Ice cream vans' 15-minute waiting limit in Worcester Published duration 15 March 2016

Ice cream vans must move on after 15 minutes under a council's new rules - despite claims older people who are less quick on their feet may miss out.

Mobile street traders will only be allowed to stay in one spot for up to 30 minutes if a queue forms, Worcester City Council said.

The Worcester News reported that some responses to a consultation were from pensioners "hostile" to the time limit.

The council said it did not believe elderly people would be disadvantaged.

And the Ice Cream Alliance, the trade body for street vendors, said the new rule would be difficult to police.

The change was brought in after complaints from street traders holding static licences.

Traders were concerned mobile traders were loitering for too long, the council said.

image copyright Thinkstock

Current restrictions on ice cream street traders

Chimes can only be used between 12:00 and 19:00

They cannot be louder than 80 decibels or last longer than 12 seconds

The chimes should be played once only on the approach to each stopping place, only once when the van is stationary, and never at intervals of less than two minutes

They cannot be played within 50m (165ft) of a hospital, a school when pupils are there, or a place of worship on a recognised day of worship

The restrictions apply to "any other sounds made by a loudspeaker fixed to a vehicle from which perishable goods are sold to the public"

A total of 77 people responded to the consultation, including 60 delivered to the council by the holder of a mobile street trading licence.

Allah Ditta, chairman of the council's licensing and environmental health committee, said the new rules "make no difference to most traders".

He said: "The majority of them have established routes and times and would never normally stay in one spot for 30 minutes.

"We certainly do not expect anyone to struggle to get to a street trader in time - most customers are used to ice cream vans turning up at particular locations and particular times."

image copyright Thinkstock/BBC image caption A resident said the rules would make Worcester a laughing stock rather than a tourist attraction

Ice Cream Alliance chief executive, Zalika Carr, said: "If you have a queue of people [at an ice cream van], who's going to police the 15 minutes?

"Street traders are trying to maximise on the queue of people and they are not going to keep tabs on the time."

Cathy Jones, from Worcester, said the restriction would make the city "a laughing stock rather than a tourist attraction".

Another Worcester resident, Ella Taylor, said: "Who will enforce this rule anyway, or is the council relying on ordinary people to 'tell tales'? That's not going to happen."

image copyright Dean Clarke image caption Dean Clarke of Dean's Ices said the new 15 minute rule was "no great hardship"

But ice cream man Dean Clarke who runs Dean's Ices in Worcester said 15 minutes was "more than adequate for any stop".

"If you only did four stops an hour you wouldn't be moving around much," he said.

"I don't see that it's any real great hardship to anyone who is street trading."

Mr Clarke said the rise of supermarket shopping had seen a decline in people buying from ice cream vans since he turned on his chimes in the heatwave of 1976.

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