Chrys Rampiey, Road Haulage Association manager for infrastructure, environment and
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business affairs, believes delivery drivers must be allowed to go about their business during the Olympic Games with "the minimum of disruption".
She says: The ORN [Olympic Route Network] has the potential to have a big impact on deliveries. We will continue to put pressure on the government are Olympic organisers to make sure that the voice of road transport operators is heard."
Mike Bracey, chairman of the Brewery Logistics Group, says the issue of deliveries during the Games is causing him "grave concern".
He adds: 'Brewers are concerned about the impact on deliveries. If there are these 'Olympic lanes', how will drivers manage to deliver to pubs on these routes? It is not always easy for brewers to carry out night-time deliveries because a lot of noise is created by the process of throwing empty kegs out of a cellar."
Gordon Telling, Freight Transport Association London policy manager, says he doesn't think the routes will be as restrictive as those in Beijing in 2008, but would like to know what delivery firms will be agreeing to. He adds: "What doesn't seem to have been worked out yet is whether or not shops will be required to hold more stock during the period the Olympic Games are on, and if they will be permitted to take deliveries from alternative locations, such as the rear of a building rather than the front.
"The potential is there for quite a chaotic situation to develop, and the situation has got to be right."
Telling believes night delivery work will be a vital part of keeping the Olympics running. smoothly, and could even be expanded after the Games and exported to other parts of the country for the likes al supermarket deliveries.
"The current rules governing night-time deliveries in London are a mess and need to be relaxed," he says. 'There are restrictions as a result of the London Lorry Control Scheme, the boroughs have theii own individual restrictions on what time deliveries can be made, anc there are also individual curfews.
-On top of this, stores have their own individual planning restrictions which make things even more complicated."