On 14 May 2017, the Daily Mail printed an article written by young journalist Jonathan Bucks. Many of you will be familiar with the piece and of course the poorly based research on which it was written.
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Without passing comment on every inaccuracy or misleading comment (we’d need a few more newsletters to cover them!), the whole basis of the argument was flawed. Whilst there was (presumed) truth in the excessive emission levels of 2 of 3 vans supposedly tested, the whole piece was written to scare the public.
It attempted to tarnish all Ice Cream Vans with the same negative brush and in turn, cast a dark shadow over this historical British industry. The article states ‘in a series of tests conducted across the country’, yet includes stats from three Ice Cream Vans, all in the South East.
And to make it more laughable, the worst offender was listed at 40.0 over the supposed limit and the third worst offender…. a whole 0.5 over!
Let’s not forget, the figure is based on a recommendation by the WHO. This is not a British (or indeed any other) law. It is not enforced by the government; it is simply a recommendation.
Within the article there is no reference to the thousands of other diesel powered vehicles on the roads, many more numerous than Ice Cream Vans. There was no attempt by the journalist to contact anyone who may have contradicted his lazy research, including Whitby Morrison and the Ice Cream Alliance.
Whitby Morrison have made efforts to contact the journalist but unfortunately he has ignored us completely. It is logical that any fair argument, report and discussion includes a balance of opinion. Sadly, it seems that this was not on the agenda of Mr Buck nor the ‘Newspaper’ that he writes for.
He’s probably the sort to buy his ice cream from the supermarket rather than an Ice Cream Van anyway, probably…