The harsh realities of Britain’s economic downturn began to manifest themselves in the van world last month as sales of LCVs fell by 24.7%.

Although strong sales figures earlier in the year offset this fall to make a yearly drop of just 4.1%, some manufacturers saw some disastrous figures in August.

LDV for example, was down 30% while Mitsubishi was down 35%.

SMMT chief executive Paul Everitt said: “August is traditionally a month for low registrations.

"That, and the economic situation which is slowing spending, means a big drop in van figures.

“In the short term, van registrations will continue to struggle, though the truck sector is holding total CV figures close to the three-year average. In the longer term we expect an overall and marked downward trend.”

There were smiles all round at Peugeot, however, which bucked the trend with a yearly increase of 11%.

A spokesman said: “We have seen strong growth in small business sales with the Peugeot 207 and strong sales from the recently-introduced new Partner and Bipper vans.

"Combined with our strong green credentials – the Peugeot Bipper and the 207 vans both have CO2 emissions below 121g/km – Peugeot’s range of light commercial vehicles is now one of the newest and most comprehensive ranges available.”