It emits water from its exhaust fit for drinking and glides along in near silence.

United left the pitch at half-time to near silence.

It can move away from a resting position and trickle through heavy traffic in near silence, propelled by only a 46bhp electric motor.

After this came two years of near silence, as a dizzying rise seemed to be turning into a catastrophic descent.

The four-hour bus journey home was conducted in near silence.