An ice cream seller has been slapped with more than £6,000 in fines and costs after ignoring a court order to stop trading from a council car park.

Jason Tevfik of Whitstable Ices, based in Joy Lane, admitted nine breaches of an injunction which banned him from parking his van in the Keam’s Yard car park in Whitstable.

In order to get his ice cream van past the height restriction, he was seen letting the air out of its tyres. The noise of the engine and the diesel fumes from his van also caused problems.

Tevfik, of Plum Pudding Lane, Dargate, was fined £400 for each breach at Canterbury County Court and was ordered to pay the council’s costs of £2,778. He will have to pay his own legal costs.

Chairman of the city council’s community committee, Cllr Neil Baker, said: "Selling ice cream is already a lucrative business so it is sheer greed that drives the rogue traders who ignore the rules and refuse to pay their dues.

"Our patience has run out and we will use every tactic available to us to crack down on the nuisance this causes to residents."

The injunction at Keam’s Yard car park remains in place and the judge accepted an undertaking from Tevfik not to trade at Whitstable Harbour or inciting or encouraging others to do so.

Cllr Baker said: "We welcome the tough stance taken by the court for the breach of one of its injunctions. It will hit Tevfik where it hurts – in his pocket."