New government guidelines on off-peak deliveries have been welcomed by the Freight Transport Association (FTA), but the organisation has warned proper management will be required.

In a statement that will be of interest to people with automotive jobs such as fleet management, the FTA said there are numerous advantages to delivering outside of congested hours.

Natalie Chapman, head of policy for London at the organisation, stated: "There are multiple benefits of shifting deliveries out of congested peak hours: improved journey times, productivity and fuel consumption, lower emissions and reduced risk of conflict between heavy goods vehicles and vulnerable road users."

However, she warned proper management will be required to ensure people who live close to where deliveries take place are not disturbed.

"These new guides will help all those involved to understand the process and the role that they can play in opening up the delivery window," Ms Chapman added.

Entitled 'Quiet deliveries: good, practice, principles and process', the guidelines have been produced by the government in cooperation with the FTA.

They are aimed at retailers, local communities and the construction industry, as well as other relevant groups. The Noise Abatement Society and the Department for Transport also contributed to the publication.

It is hoped that by encouraging quiet deliveries at off-peak hours, problems that affect both businesses and the public - such as congestion and delays - will be avoided.

These new guidelines follow on from the Quiet Deliveries Demonstration Scheme, which carried out successful trials of off-peak deliveries. Operations were completed early in the morning, late evening and at night and were found to have not disturbed local residents' sleep.

The FTA also revealed it is working alongside Transport for London (TfL) on its own efforts towards retiming deliveries.

In addition to commenting on this publication, the organisation has recently warned the European Commission against relaxing cabotage laws, as they would provide foreign-registered heavy goods vehicles with a further competitive advantage, even though they tend to have poorer compliance records than their UK counterparts.

Unity Recruitment are a recruitment company based in Ruislip, specialising in industries such as automotive, traffic/highway, parking & commercial recruitment.