The UK’s capital is one of the most congested cities in the world, which is why London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, has proposed a raft of new strategic changes to address the volumes of traffic on the roads.

The plan is to cut the number of commercial vehicles which are present in the city during peak periods of the day by a tenth over the next eight years. And delivery vans used to ship products to people who have placed orders via safe shopping online are likely to be impacted by the potential regulatory shifts.

LCVs and trucks account for 20 per cent of the vehicles on London’s roads on average, but it is the morning rush hour where their presence is most felt. Now experts anticipate that as safe shopping online becomes more popular, vans are going to be an even bigger contributing factor to the congestion issue.

Interestingly, there is actually a shortage of drivers for heavier goods vehicles, which is another reason that vans are being rolled out more regularly to handle delivery and distribution duties.

Traffic is not the only thing that Khan is seeking to address, as he wants to improve air quality and reduce pollution across London so that people who live and work there can enjoy a better quality of life.

How this will impact consumers who enjoy ordering items online to be delivered to their homes remains to be seen. It may only be the central areas of the city which are hit by tighter rules on van and truck use during peak periods, which would mean that people living in the suburbs would be unaffected.