Curfews on late night lorries could be lifted to ease road congestion

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Curfews on night lorries could be lifted to ease road congestion

Night curfews on lorries delivering to Britain's supermarkets could be shortened or scrapped under radical Government proposals.

The new rules should help to ease the country's major congestion problem if lorries are allowed to deliver during the night.

At present, about 40 per cent of supermarkets are banned from receiving deliveries between 10pm and 7am.

This rule, which has been in place for about 20 years, means lorries clog up the roads during the busiest times of day.

Lorry drivers racing to get to supermarkets around the country are competing with commuters, parents doing the school run and millions of other road users.

Under the new rules, lorries could be allowed to deliver to supermarkets as early as 5am, or after 10pm.

But campaign groups fear it will cause "misery" for millions of people who live close to a supermarket, or on the roads commonly used by the lorries.

Sandra Bell, supermarkets campaigner for Friends of the Earth, said: "We know of many communities who are suffering from the disturbance of supermarket lorries."

"If these hours were changed to be earlier in the morning or later at night, it would cause even more misery for these communities."

She said the answer to congestion is not to change the curfew, but to cut down on the distance that food travels to get to supermarkets.

The British Retail Consortium said it is campaigning for a change in the rules, which are decided by each local authority.

A spokesman said: "We would like to see, in a limited number of circumstances, some flexibility of an hour or two either end of the current curfew."

Britain's second-biggest supermarket chain, Asda, said the current curfew creates "a massive headache" for its 310 shops.

For example, there is one Asda store in Manchester where the local authority bans Sunday deliveries.

This means there is very little food in the shop on Monday, and can create even bigger problems over the frantic Christmas period.

Asda expects it could cut its lorry drivers' "road miles" by about five per cent, if it could deliver at better times of day.

A spokesman said: "Restrictive delivery times cause us a massive headache, although we know we have to balance the concerns of local residents who are worried about noise."

There are about 440,000 lorries in Britain, including 90,000 articulated lorries over 38 tonnes, which are typically used by supermarkets.

Lawrence Christensen, head of Sainsbury convenience stores, said: "Motorways would be much clearer during the day if we were able to deliver at night."

"Lifting curfews would be particularly helpful to convenience stores because more of them are in congested town centres, but we recognise this will not work unless we are considerate about noise."

Guidance from the Department for Transport states: "There may be circumstances where the public can still be protected even if delivery curfews are reduced by a couple of hours."

"Such flexibility has the potential to benefit local people through reduced congestion at peak times and reduced pollution."

"It could also benefit the industry by making journeys and delivery times more reliable."

Significant advances in lorries since the curfew was introduced 20 years ago should ease some concerns, according to the British Retail Consortium.

Lorries tend to be quieter, such as the fact that the noise which signals that a lorry is reversing can be switched off in some vehicles.

Drivers are also trained how to be as quiet as possible, such as using plastic cages, not metal cages, for holding the boxes.

 

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