By Dan Grennan
12:06 May 27, 2024, updated 1:11 PM May 27, 2024
It’s one of the sounds of the British summer, but an ice cream van owner’s noise has landed him in trouble after complaining it’s ‘too loud’.
John Barton, who runs Harrison’s Ices in Lincolnshire, was shocked when he received a council letter telling him his Blue Peter jingle was causing ‘excessive noise’.
The warning from East Lindsey District Council stated that officers had a duty to investigate and that he could be prosecuted in court under the Control of Pollution Act 1974.
The 33-year-old has now hit back at the local authority, claiming the ‘unfair’ rules governing his sector’s jingles were ‘outdated’ and ‘harmful’.
According to government regulations, ice cream truck jingles can only be played for 12 seconds at a time, between noon and 7 p.m., and the noise level cannot exceed 80 decibels. Mr Barton said they don’t get long enough to play the jingles.
He told Good Morning Britain: ‘I think people need to relax. If I’m honest, we don’t get long enough to play the chimes.
‘We get twelve seconds, which I don’t think is enough. The sound of it being too loud isn’t a problem because it doesn’t need to be louder.
‘But no, I don’t think we’re doing anything wrong. I think people just need to relax.
‘No, [the rules] are outdated. You can play music in your garden until 11pm at night and we can’t play ours for 12 seconds without someone complaining about it.
“I think it’s a little bit unfair and it’s hurting the industry on a bigger scale than you can imagine.”
In their April 25 letter to Mr Barton, Lindsey District Council wrote: ‘It is alleged that the van is in the area almost every evening between 6pm and 7pm in good weather.
‘It is alleged that the bells are too loud and used excessively between the above times.
‘It is said that the Blue Peter style bells sound too often/often and possibly for too long.’
But Mr Barton has claimed he is not breaking any rules and that his vans adhere to the required decibel limit when playing their favorite chimes in 12-second bursts.
The ice cream company has four vans serving ice cream in the Louth, Grimsby and Cleethorpes areas of Lincolnshire.
The council letter said complaints were concentrated around streets in Louth, including Eastfield Road, Park Avenue and Chestnut Drive.
Mr Barton says he doesn’t even go down some of those streets and is sounding his signature chimes in line with government guidelines.
The father-of-three, who has run the business for a decade, said last week: ‘I’ve come across some strange things in my time and I have to say this is one of the strangest.
“The letter stated that someone had complained that we were playing our bells too loudly and claimed we were breaking the law.
‘They’re not too loud, I can barely hear it in my van – it’s twelve seconds of music and it’s not in your ear. When I’m in my living room you can’t hear the vans.
‘It really depends on the ringer, Just One Cornetto is loud and high. It’s the Blue Peter chime sound we use, but that’s not the case.
‘You don’t expect to receive such a complaint in the middle of the summer season.
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‘Someone has too much time on their hands.’
Mr Barton has vowed to continue ringing his chimes on the streets of Louth despite the complaint.
He added: “Initially I was annoyed but we’ll move on to Louth. We’ve been doing it for ten years.
‘We won’t even enter the street where the complainant went. I’m sure you can’t hear mine two or three blocks away.
‘In 10 years I have never had a complaint about my products.
“The problem I have is that the government doesn’t work in ice cream trucks. The rules kill people.
“They’re putting an end to the industry. They have no limit on how much tax and VAT I pay. Who really makes these decisions?’
Mr Barton also took to Facebook to share his frustration, writing last week: ‘Whatever happened to the world when people complain about the noise of an ice cream van…at 6pm. In the afternoon.
“These people will never come to the ice cream truck, they will hate seeing children happy, they will hate the sound of something joyful and happy.
‘If this is you, GET A LIFE! Go outside and buy an ice cream; maybe then you’ll feel a little happier about life.’
A spokesperson for East Lindsey District Council said: ‘The council has no choice as to whether or not to investigate.
‘This is part of our legal duty to investigate potential statutory nuisance under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, which states that we must investigate all complaints we receive.
‘Every year we receive and investigate more than 800 complaints about noise pollution, ranging from barking dogs to industrial noise.’