It could be the end of that quintessential British tradition - the ice cream van.
For those not in the UK a little explanation may be required. For the last 50 years or so it just wouldn't be summer without the annoying tinny jingle announcing the arrival of a Mr Whippy or a Mr Softy van dispensing ice cream cones (if you are lucky a '99' which comes complete with an alarmingly short piece of chocolate flake stuck in it). One of my earliest memories is of buying such a cone on a beach in Wales one summer; against the strict parental instructions that I would ruin my dinner. (I didn't; I ate both).
But again the anti-fun police are out and about and seem determined to see off the last of these vans.
Under an amendment to the Education and Inspection Bill, local authorities will be given new powers to stop ice-cream vans from operating near school gates. The move comes as operators claim that they are already being forced out of business by an over-zealous health lobby. Local authorities have banned ice-cream vans from using pay-and-display parking spaces and set up "ice-cream-free"exclusion zones around busy shopping streets.







