Anger as burger van man faces elbow over grease

Nearly 400 people have joined the Facebook group, called Save Tony's Burger Van, after Selby District Council told Tony Crombie, 60, he would have to move his business which has been based in Market Place on Friday and Saturday nights for the past eight years.

The council has recently completed a 1.3m transformation of Selby town centre, much of it spent on laying York stone.

Ben Anderson, 18, who worked at the van for six months last year and set up the petition, said: "It is ridiculous that they are saying it has to move. Tony's van is a much-loved institution in Selby.

"Market centres are meant to be a place where people gather but they want to make it so sterile and if we're not careful the place will lose all its character.

"It is the only place selling burgers and coffee at that time of night in the town and is used as a meeting place by town wardens and the police.

"They may be worried about their new stones but it doesn't leave any mess."

Mr Crombie, a lorry driver by trade, has been selling burgers – included his patented 'Triple Burger' – for eight years.

He said if he was barred, his business would have to close as there was nowhere else in town with as much passing trade.

The council's licensing committee is meeting on April 12 and is being asked agree that the designation of Market Place be changed from a consent street to a prohibited street.

This would ban anyone from serving cooked food from a stall – although it would not ban the burger van from Selby Market, as this is covered under a different Act.

A report to the council's licensing committee said: "It would be inappropriate for a burger van to occupy the area where the likelihood was that the stone would become spoiled by deposits of grease and other debris resulting from the sale of snacks."

Coun Anthony Jude Thurlow, a member of the councils economy and environment board, said: "Since the council has gone to all the effort to create this open space, it seems a bit incongruous that the burger van is there as well.

"I'm sure that his customers will know where he has moved to."