It’s one of the sounds of British summer, yet one ice cream van owner’s chimes have landed him in hot water after a complaint they are ‘too loud’.
John Barton, who runs Harrison’s Ices based in Lincolnshire, was shocked at receiving a council letter telling him his Blue Peter jingle was causing ‘undue noise’.
The East Lindsey District Council warning stated officials had a duty to investigate and he could face prosecution at court under the Control of Pollution Act 1974.
The 33-year-old has now hit back at the local authority and claimed ‘unfair’ rules governing his industry’s jingles were ‘outdated’ and ‘damaging’.
Under the government’s rules, ice cream van jingles can only be played for 12 seconds at a time, between the hours of midday and 7pm and the noise level must not exceed 80 decibels. Mr Barton said they don’t get long enough to play the jingles.
John Barton pictured in one of his ice cream vans after he was accused of playing his jingles ‘too loud’
John Barton (pictured), 33, hands an ice cream to a young boy from one of his vans
Harrison’s Ices has four vans that serve ice cream across the Louth, Grimsby and Cleethorpes areas of Lincolnshire
He told Good Morning Britain: ‘I think people need to chill out. We don’t get long enough to play the chimes if I am honest.
‘We get 12 seconds which isn’t enough in my opinion. The sound of it being too noisy isn’t an issue because we don’t need it to be any louder.
‘But no, I don’t think we are doing anything wrong. I think people just need to chill out.
‘No, [the rules] are outdated. You can play music in your garden until 11 o’clock at night and we can’t play ours for 12 seconds without someone complaining about them.
‘I think it’s a bit unfair and it is damaging the industry in a bigger scale than you can imagine.’
In their April 25 letter to Mr Barton, Lindsey District Council wrote: ‘It is alleged that when the weather is nice the van is in the area nearly every evening from between 6pm and 7pm.
‘It has been alleged the chimes are overly loud and are used excessively between the above times.
‘It is alleged the Blue Peter style chimes are sounded too often/frequently and potentially for too long.’
But Mr Barton has claimed he is not breaking any rules and that his vans stick to the required decibel limit when playing their favourite chime in 12 second bursts.
The ice cream firm has four vans that serve ice cream across the Louth, Grimsby and Cleethorpes areas of Lincolnshire.
The council letter stated the complaints centered 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 he sounds his distinctive chimes in line with government guidelines.
The father-of-three who has been running the company for ten years, said last week: ‘I have come across some weird things in my time and I have to say this is one of the weirdest.
‘The letter basically told us someone had complained that we play our chimes too loud and are claiming we are breaking the law.
‘They’re not too loud, I can barely hear it in my van – it’s 12 second of music and it’s not in your ear. If I’m in my living room you can’t hear the vans.
A customer approches John Barton’s ice cream van
The ice cream van owner has been running Harrison’s Ices for 10 years
The father-of-three told Good Morning Britain people need to ‘chill out’ about the rules
‘It really depends on the chime, Just One Cornetto is loud and high pitched.. It’s the Blue Peter chime we use, which isn’t.
‘In the middle of the summer season, you don’t expect to get that sort of complaint.
‘Someone has got too much time on their hands.’
Mr Barton has vowed to continue sounding his chimes around the streets of Louth despite the complaint.
He added: ‘Initially I was annoyed but we’re going to carry on going to Louth. We’ve been doing it for ten years.
‘The street that made the complainant, we don’t even go down that street. I know for a fact you can’t hear mine two or three streets away.
‘In 10 years I’ve never had a complaint about my products.
‘The issue I’ve got, is the government don’t work in ice cream vans. The rules are killing people off.
‘They’re putting an end to the industry. They don’t have a restriction on how much tax and VAT I pay. Who genuinely makes these decisions?’
Mr Barton also took to Facebook to share his frustration and wrote last week: ‘What has the world come too when you have people complaining about an ice cream van noise.. at 6pm. In the afternoon.
‘These people won’t ever come out to the ice cream van, they will hate seeing children happy, hate the sound of something joyfully and happy.
‘If this is you – GET A LIFE! Get ya self out and buy an ice cream – it might make you feel a bit happier about life.’
A spokesperson for East Lindsey District Council said: ‘The council does not have a choice in whether or not to investigate.
‘This is part of our statutory duty to investigate potential statutory nuisance under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 which state we must investigate all complaints we receive.
‘Every year we receive and investigate in excess of 800 noise complaints about a variety of issues ranging from dog barking to industrial noise.’
