The UK’s new light commercial vehicle (LCV) market saw a 6.4% increase in sales in February, according to the latest figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

These confirm that 844 more vans and pick-ups hit British roads in February compared with February 2017, marking the best February performance in a decade.

Driving the growth were medium vans (weighing 2.0-2.5 tonnes) and pick-ups, which saw increases of 19.9% and 14.2% respectively. Demand for large vans (weighing 2.5-3.5 tonnes) increased by 2.5%, while car-derived vans (weighing less than 2.0 tonnes) was the only segment to decline, falling by 2.4%.

SMMT (www.smmt.co.uk) chief executive Mike Hawes said: “February is typically a quiet month as buyers await the March plate change, so the rise in demand is welcome news.

“However, with so much uncertainty in the UK at the moment, we can expect further fluctuations in demand for the rest of the year.”

It was a different picture with the UK new-car market, which saw 80,805 new cars registered — a drop of 2.8% compared with February 2017.

Continuing recent trends, demand for petrol and alternatively fuelled vehicles (AFVs) rose in February, up 14.4% and 7.2% respectively, with the former driven by some new smaller models coming to the market.

Registrations of new diesel cars fell by 23.5%, a figure the SMMT says is disappointing, given that the latest low-emission vehicles can help to address air quality issues.

Meanwhile, double-digit growth for petrol and AFVs has been unable to offset the move away from diesel, which now has a 35.6% market share.

The SMMT says this discrepancy in demand suggests that diesel car owners are keeping their older cars for longer.