Ice cream man 'delighted' with new licence

Mr Shaouna has traded as an ice cream man for almost 30 years

An ice cream van company has been granted a new licence despite complaints about its vans chiming for longer than the 12-second limit.

"Proud" lifelong Cheltenham resident Bambas Shaouna - affectionately known as Mr Whippy in the town - faced losing his license after complaints, which also included parking too close to schools.

Council officers recommended his application be rejected at a meeting on Thursday, but councillors decided instead to give him permission to continue.

Mr Shaouna told the BBC on Friday that he was "delighted" with the decision.

"We had eight complaints in six years, that's nothing," he added. "Unfortunately in this world, sometimes people just want to have a little moan and they take it quite seriously.

"We're taking it seriously, we're obviously changing a lot of things like the rules for our members of staff."

Entertainer Mr Shaouna, 72, who has appeared on programmes such as Britain's Got Talent, said: "Ice cream vans are wonderful things, it's a British tradition, and they just put a smile on people's faces."

Trading as an ice cream man since for nearly 30 years, Mr Shaouna now has a fleet of four vans which he runs with a business partner and a small number of staff.

Several of the complaints refer to parking too close to several different schools in the Cheltenham area, as well as noise and pollution concerns.

There was also one complaint relating to reports of a van trading on private council land without permission, and another dating back to 2018 of a vehicle trading without consent.

"You've got to think of the majority. How many people have we served in six years?" Mr Shaouna said.

"We've probably served half a million people, and you get people say 'he's parking too close to the school gates'."

While council officers recommended his application for permission be rejected, committee members - who heard directly from Mr Shaouna and his business partner Will Capstick during the meeting - voted to approve it.

Committee member Councillor Mark Pineger said: "The report recommends refusal, but I don't feel we've been given sufficient grounds to refuse."

During the meeting, Mr Capstick set out a number of measures the business had put in place in order to prevent falling foul of regulations again, including putting laminated signs in the vans clearly explaining noise rules and acceptable parking places near schools.

Councillor Simon Wheeler said: "Initially I was very concerned about rule breaking and non-compliance, however it does strike me that more recently you have put together quite a stringent training and monitoring system for your drivers and vendors which makes me feel more comfortable."