Council calls on public to report ice cream vans still operating in Leeds

Leeds City Council claims that over the past couple of days it has ‘received a number of reports’ of ice cream vans still operating across the city.

To operate an ice cream van at any time, vendors need a licence, but the council has confirmed that all ice cream van vendors that hold licences have now stopped trading in line with the new government guidelines.

This means that any ice cream van operating at present is doing so illegally – and the authority claims any continuing to do so will be issued with fixed penalty fines.

A Leeds City Council spokesperson said: “These are incredibly challenging times for us all and we need to work together as a city to make a difference and save lives. We know this isn’t easy, but ice cream vans are not essential and this unnecessary contact is putting more people at risk.

“Any vans operating now are also doing so without a licence which is against the law and could result in them receiving a fine. We all need to take the government guidance very seriously in order to get through this and we encourage any person who sees an ice cream van operating to report it as soon as possible.”

Anyone who spots an ice cream van operating is encouraged to report it to [email protected]. If possible, they should include the registration number of the van along with the time, date and location it was seen.