THE council has changed its policy on allowing takeaway food delivery vehicles into the Aberystwyth ‘safe zone’ after a Deliveroo rider said he was repeatedly denied access to the town centre.

The motorbike courier said the issues first started when the safe zones were reimposed during the Easter holidays this year.

“There were no issues whatsoever last summer,” said the delivery person, who did not want to be named.

He said that when the issues started, he contacted the council multiple times but, he claimed, to no avail.

But then on 10 June, he said the council contacted him to say they would be adding his vehicle registration to a database to assure he would be granted access.

And the council told the Cambrian News that changes to the rules after the Easter holidays meant that liveried food delivery vehicles are now allowed access.

The driver continued: “I went up to the barriers one day because I had a delivery. They refused access, saying it was only Subway that’s allowed in for the food deliveries, which of course should not be the case.

“So I had to walk across town to deliver.”

The driver said he contacted the council on Saturday, 5 June, when he called the out of hours number.

He claims, at the time, he was told they couldn’t grant access so as not to “flood” safe zones with takeaway drivers.

At the end of April, the Cambrian News published an article after a courier reported delivery drivers in Aberystwyth were “struggling to get the job done” when the safe zones were implemented for the Easter holiday.

At the time, Ceredigion County Council said couriers would be granted access to “part of the town where a 5mph restriction will be in place”.

A spokesperson for the council say they now “endeavour” to manage access to safe zones “where these deliveries cannot be carried out outside the safe zone operation period”.

They continued: “The council facilitated further changes following the Easter safe zone period, including ensuring that takeaway food delivery vehicles were allowed through, provided they were liveried, and the contractor manning the safe zone gateways are aware of this.

“The contractors have confirmed they were aware of the changes and confirmed that they have not denied access to delivery drivers.

“It is also the council’s understanding that there are very few deliveries during the day and most generally start at 5pm when the roads are reopened.

“Delivery vehicles should, however, be liveried or at least the driver must present some formal/official identification as proof of delivery activities.

“The officer taking the call on Saturday, 5 June, deals with emergency circumstances only. The advice given to the caller was to contact the council on Monday morning if they wished to progress with their complaint further.”