Survey reveals consumer concerns over tighter delivery van regulations

Thursday, April 26, 2018 - 11:52 by David Aiken

A new report from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has found that almost a third of people believe that their quality of life would be adversely impacted if the items they ordered online were hit with prolonged delivery times.

This comes after concerns about the volumes of LCVs in towns and cities across the UK were raised by London mayor, Sadiq Khan, according to BT.com.

The government is introducing stricter rules on the most polluting vehicles, with the ultra-low emissions zone in the capital resulting in large daily fees for businesses using older vans which are harmful to the environment.

Eighty nine per cent of respondents to the survey said that they believe that the implementation of additional limitations on van use would compromise their quality of life in some way. It is not just safe shopping online that would be affected but also other industries, including waste management, plumbing and construction.

Although efforts to improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions are a core issue raised by campaigners and politicians who want to reduce the number of delivery vans on the roads, another factor is congestion. Even with the growing number of electric van models available, from manufacturers such as Nissan and Renault, this will only tackle half of the problem and will still leave streets clogged with LCVs.

E-commerce firms like Amazon are looking into new delivery options which do not rely solely on vans. This includes drone-based parcel carrying and the rollout of compact, autonomous wheeled robots which can complete the final mile or so of the shipping process.

Technology is likely to solve this issue in the next decade, but there could be disruption to shopping deliveries in the interim while new solutions are developed.