Ice cream vans must take chime out from playing tunes in council plan

Ice cream vans in a South Yorkshire borough could be limited to playing their chimes for just 12 seconds under street trading proposals by the council.

Under the new rules, vendors in Rotherham would only be allowed to play the distinctive tinkling tunes between noon and 19:00 BST with a minimum of two minutes between each one.

The familiar jingles would not be allowed within 50m of where people are "sensitive to their sound" including schools, hospitals and places of worship.

The government has a national code of practice for ice cream vans but these proposals would give the authority firmer control and enable it to take action if the rules are broken.

Many of the regulations are already national policy for sellers of the summery chilled snack, following a review more than a decade ago.

The council is looking at regulating all street traders so they can control the number and location of food vans and minimise nuisance.

Draft proposals from the authority said: "Mobile traders must move from position to position remaining stationary for no longer than 20 minutes to initially attract customers. The vehicle must move on as soon as the last customer has been served, and no other customer is clearly awaiting service.

"The use of chimes should be operated between noon and 7pm and should be solely for informing members of the public that the commodity is on sale from the vehicle.

"They should not to give reasonable cause for annoyance or operate with a playing time lasting more than 12 seconds.

"Chimes should be played once only on the approach to each stopping place, only once when the vehicle is stationary and never at intervals of less than two minutes.

"They should not be played more than once every two hours on a length of street up to 500 metres long."

The new policy would mean the council could impose conditions regarding the safety of all food units including hygiene standards, trading times and background checks on vendors.

The council would issue consents, which are similar to street trading licences but are more flexible so the council can apply conditions or remove a consent due to operational, safety or security reasons.

A formal consultation will start by the end of July and continue until the end of September. A report will then be presented to cabinet in late 2026 or early 2027 following an analysis of responses.

Councillors will discuss the plans at a meeting on 1 July.

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