In his letter, Mr Gutmann describes how dozens of vans, lorries, buses and cars needlessly add to the high pollution levels recorded in Barnet because they leave their engines idling (‘Fine drivers who leave cars idling’, Your Views, August 21).

However, he does not mention ice cream vans.

In our area of Finchley, a number of residents have been trying for seven years to enlist Barnet’s help in stopping a fleet of vans who come one by one to a site outside Victoria Park and park for hours on end – sometimes at weekends for as long as six hours – with the engine running almost the whole time.

The noise and fumes create a most unpleasant environment and are endangering people’s health, particularly of children who live nearby or play in the park.

The owner of the vans knows he is in breach of Barnet’s by-law, which permits ice cream vans to park for only 20 minutes in any 24-hour period, but he ignores that inconvenient fact.

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