A REVOLUTIONARY battery powered van has been given a civic once over.

Middlesbrough Mayor Ray Mallon took an electric e-Mercury panel van for a test run yesterday.

Councillor Bob Kerr, Middlesbrough Council's executive member for the environment, said the zero-emission vehicle could be what the local authority is looking for.

"We've used electric powered vehicles in the past, but the technology was always moving and this vehicle looks as if it could meet our very stringent requirements."

The e-Mercury is manufactured by LTI Vehicles of Coventry, makers of the famous London taxis.

It comes in four versions including a parcel or milk van, a flatbed goods carrier a 17-seater bus and the panel van, tested at Nature's World, Middlesbrough, for the local authority's street cleaning department.