According to the FTA, vans are vital to the UK economy. There are more than four million of them on the road. The FTA has released a new report called the FTA Logistics Report 2016.

In a statement today the industry association has said that the size of the national van fleet “shows the dramatic shift in the way the public shops”.

The FTA explained, “By the end of 2015, retailers predicted they would be delivering more than 860 million parcels to UK homes – thanks to the e-commerce explosion.”

The FTA’s statistics repeat findings from the Department for Transport (DfT) Road Traffic Estimates, that showed van traffic grew faster than any other vehicle type in the UK, and currently covers around 48 billion miles in 2015.

Mark Cartwright, FTA Head of Vans, commented, “If ever there was a need for evidence to support how vans power our daily lives, the latest DfT figures provide it. There are now over 4 million vans on UK roads, covering more miles than ever before, and their numbers are growing at a rate faster than any other type of vehicle.

“This is further confirmation of the humble van’s importance to the UK’s economic activity. It’s been recognised for a while that there is a clear correlation between UK GDP and van ‘traffic’ but we’re now seeing the growth in ‘van traffic’ outstrip economic performance, primarily due to internet shopping and entrepreneurial activity.”

London’s congestion has increased lately even as the numbers of private cars have fallen due to people finding other modes of transport to commute. NO2 levels are increasing and the pollution is a known cause of unnecessary deaths in the Capital. Even with new proposals to make delivery vehicles ever greener, others may suggest that e-commerce goods are delivered by other means and who would not necessarily celebrate the presence of the van on the streets…