Minister calls for out of hours deliveries

Food and farming minister Lord Rooker has called for a review of restrictions on lorries making ‘out of hours’ deliveries to supermarket stores, in a bid to reduce congestion on Britain’s roads.

Speaking at a food industry reception at the House of Commons last week, Rooker remarked that existing restrictions, which prevented lorries delivering before certain hours in the morning, caused congestion and were inefficient.

Rooker’s stance was supported by the House of Commons Transport Select Committee in a new report on freight transport published on Saturday.

The report recognised the logic of allowing more out of hours deliveries following the introduction of improved vehicle technology and enhanced environmental protection schemes.

The report was welcomed by the Freight Transport Association, which claimed that delivering goods at night saved time and money and helped reduce daytime congestion.

“Times have changed, it’s time to revisit issues like that,” said Rooker, who admitted any change would be politically sensitive. “It doesn’t cost the government anything, it actually helps industry. It’s something that is so simple that you could change the way you work.”

Rooker suggested that the time was probably now right to review a number of issues such as lorry delivery times and route restrictions, since the public was more aware of the need to deal with thorny environmental issues.

“The ground is very fertile out there with the public at the present time,” he added. “If you can show a good public benefit for the environment, it brings it home to people that we ourselves can make a contribution … that we are putting our own house in order.”

Rooker’s call came as it emerged that the government had shelved plans to introduce a national road pricing scheme to cut congestion. This followed an announcement by Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly last week of a £6bn investment package to ease traffic flows on Britain’s motorways and other key roads. The package included measures such as opening up motorway hard shoulders further during peak travel periods.

In a related decision, the government scrapped a 2p rise in fuel duty, a move which the FDF described as “a victory for common sense”