Ice cream vans banned from London streets in crackdown on pollution

Ice cream vans are being banned from some parts of London as councils crack down on toxic air pollution.

Most run on diesel and release dangerously high levels of black carbon, a sooty substance that scientists claim can stunt the growth of children’s lungs and trigger asthma attacks.

The vans need to keep their engines running even while stationary in order to power on-board freezers and a whippy machine.

Camden council said today it will be installing “no ice cream trading” signs for the first time in 40 streets, as well as increasing enforcement officer patrols and issuing fines to sellers who break the rules. Westminster council will also be enforcing trading laws to prevent ice cream sellers operating in some of its streets near schools.

Tradition: Saskia Regtering stops at an ice cream van in Kensington with her daughter Fien, eight, and 11-year-old son Joep

A spokesman said: “Idling ice cream vans pump out harmful chemicals like NO2 [nitrogen dioxide] and black carbon which is why the council is introducing measures to reduce and remove this traffic around schools and other public spaces.”

Ice cream vans are being banned initially from 40 streets in Camden and some streets near schools in Westminster

Vans operating in central London are affected by the ultra low emission zone, which came into force on April 8 and sees the polluting vehicles charged up to £100 a day.

However, ice cream vans are exempt from engine idling regulations because of their on-board refrigerators.

From royal banquets to gang wars

Swiss entrepreneur Carlo Gatti is credited with being the first to make ice cream available from a stand on the street in London in the 1850s. He sold ice cream from a stall in Hungerford Market, near the Strand. 

Wall’s ice cream was first sold from tricycles in London in 1922.   

Frozen yoghurt shops have challenged ice cream vans for the business of health-conscious London parents in recent years.

The Ice Cream Alliance estimates that ice cream van numbers in the UK have declined to less than 2,500.

The first recorded serving of ice cream was in 1671 or 1672, at a Feast of St George banquet at Windsor Castle. 

Glasgow saw “Ice Cream Wars” in the early Eighties, when rival gangs sold drugs and stolen goods from ice cream vans.

The London Local Authorities Act allows roaming ice cream vans to trade from an area for 15 minutes, but not return to that site during the rest of the trading day. Councils have freedom to implement even stricter rules.

Green Party London Assembly member Caroline Russell said: “No one wants to be the fun police or see people lose their businesses.

“But people don’t want a side order of asthma with their ice cream. This is a serious health issue. The Ulez charge has helped but we can’t have a situation where you can pay to pollute.

An ice cream seller sells ices to children by the Thames at Putney, London in 1932
Getty Images

“The roaming vans that trade in different streets every day, those will disappear over the next few years.”

Many councils are looking at installing electricity power points in parks and markets to allow sellers to operate without their engines running.

Richmond and Tower Hamlets said they are considering the move and Islington had one installed in Highbury Fields about six years ago.

A spokesman for Camden council said a consultation on “the development of five areas where the borough will experiment with ice cream trading permitted so long as [vans] operate with their engines switched off” will start soon.

In Westminster the vans are already banned from pitching up in areas owned and operated by The Royal Parks. Instead they are given spaces with access to mains electricity rather than keeping their engines switched on. One van is regularly parked outside the Royal Albert Hall, across the road from Hyde Park.

Saskia Regtering, 45, a conductor, stopped for an ice cream with her husband Rob Vermeulen, 57, and their 11-year-old son Joep, and daughter Fien, eight.

Ms Regtering said: “At the end of the day we have to think about the future of the planet. It’s good to limit where the vans can park — why not make them operate where they have access to electricity.

“It is a shame when traditions die out and the whole city is based on history and tradition. Hopefully, the vans will not disappear as a result.”

Vicky Sousa, 38, a mother of one from Pimlico, said: “It’s always very difficult when something traditional has not moved on and stayed modern. I love ice creams and my son does as well. When he was smaller he would get excited by the music. He knew what was coming.

“But everyone is worried about pollution now. If the vans are causing a problem then something needs to be done about them. I would support banning them from near schools but it has to be a proportionate response.”

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