The minister for transport, John Spellar, has responded positively to the Freight Transport Association's call for a fresh look at bans on night-time lorry driving in city centres.

Speaking at an FTA meeting on October 22, Spellar said it could be possible for existing legislation to be revised to take into account increased congestion issues and new vehicle technology.

'While I fully understand how night bans came about 25 years ago,' said Spellar, 'we are putting vehicles into city centres at exactly the time everyone wants to travel. Now that we have quieter trucks and many supermarkets have enclosed loading areas, we need to re-examine the issues.' Spellar added that the clean air lobby was also behind the move to stagger journeys through urban areas.

Transport for London has reportedly been 'quite receptive at looking at the night ban again', considering that vehicle manufacturers have made many improvements in the quality of engines over the past few years.