George Alexander, chief commercial vehicle editor at Glass’s, said: 'Businesses will not want to make the wrong financial decisions, but it is important to decide to move forwards nonetheless. The actual direction taken is, within reason, less important. The fact is, it will prove easier to steer a business back on course to success once it has some forward motion.'

Mr Alexander added: 'Despite the level of confidence remaining so frail, there are still a few outbreaks of optimism where profit opportunities have been identified. Typical of this is where operators that have run commercial vehicles well past their sell-by dates are now having to dip their toes in the marketplace. Such fleets cannot be run indefinitely if problems surrounding reliability, running costs and customer perception are to be avoided. However, it will not be either a cheap or easy decision for cash-strapped businesses to take.'

Looking ahead, Mr Alexander thinks that there is enough economic stability to support operators taking positive steps. 'The UK’s economy appears to be just robust enough to see us safely through the next couple of years, though anyone who says "things can only get better" should not be believed,' he concluded.