The owner of an ice cream van which was operating in Ealing has been ordered to pay almost £12,000 after being found guilty of illegal trading. 

Idrees Mian, of Uxbridge Road, Southall, pleaded to guilty to two charges of illegal street trading in The Broadway in Southall at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court on 19th May, but was found guilty of three counts of illegal street trading and one of failing to respond to a notice. 

Mian was ordered to pay £5,990 in fines and legal fees, £2,850 in further fines, £1,140 in victim surcharges, and £2,000 in costs. 

Peter Mason, Leader of Ealing Council said: "While we welcome traders in all our towns in Ealing, we expect them to have the correct licences and operate legally. 

"The council will continue to take action against anyone who is trading or parking illegally.  

"Illegal parking is not acceptable at any time in Southall or any of our other seven towns." 

Ice cream vans are legally meant to be constantly in motion and are not allowed to stay parked on unrestricted roads to trade for any longer than 15 minutes at a time – and they must then move on and not return to that location for the rest of the day and if vans remain stationary all day, they effectively become a de facto fixed pitch street trader operating without a licence.  

Vans can be given parking control notices for unlawful parking without a permit, a fixed penalty notice for unlicensed street trading, or wilful obstruction of the highway. 

In the past year, the council has issued 35 fixed penalty notices to ice cream van operators for these offences and one van alone received 42 parking control notices for illegal parking in the last year.