Ice cream vans threatened by new noise restrictions

The jingling tunes of the ice cream van, a sound that epitomises summer, are to be curtailed by council bosses because they are too noisy.

Worcester City Council has decreed that sellers' bells cannot exceed more than four seconds, barely enough for a verse of Greensleeves or the Teddy Bears Picnic.



They have also been told they can't sound their chimes before 12pm or after 7pm and can only play music once every three minutes. Councillors have agreed to toughen up on mobile street traders after complaints about the way some operated, including banning them from parking outside schools.

Vans are not allowed to trade within sight of other ice cream vans and are banned from being within 164 ft of a school during school hours and the same distance of any place of worship on a day of worship unless they are quieter than 80 decibels at 25ft away.