The definition of “roundsmen”, who are able to avoid prosecution for unauthorised street trading, has been clarified by the High Court. The court held a roundsman was a person who carried out a round of customers to fulfil orders and deliver goods to them.
The issue was raised when a company operating ice cream vans in Brighton was prosecuted for unauthorised street trading. The company claimed that the van operators were entitled to the legal status of roundsmen, which rendered them exempt from prosecution under the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982.
However, the High Court upheld the decision of a district judge who ruled that to be classified as a roundsman, a trader had to carry out a set round of customers and satisfy orders for goods. In those circumstances mobile traders such as ice cream salesmen working from vans were not entitled to side-step the street trading provisions of the 1982 Act.
Kempin (t/a British Bulldog) v Brighton and Hove Council Queen’s Bench Division: Divisional Court (Latham LJ and Potts J) 12 February 2001.
Matthew Bagnall (instructed by Rowe & Cohen) appeared for the appellant; Giles Colin (instructed by the solicitor to Brighton and Hove Council) appeared for the respondents.
PLS News 14/2/01
