KEBAB van owner Zeynel Caner has been fined £800 for street trading without the consent of Swindon Council.

This is the first prosecution brought by the council against a trader since the street trading consent scheme which requires all traders who operate in or next to a street to obtain consent from the council was adopted in September.

Caner, 34, of Avon Way, Turnpike, Newbury, has several commercial interests in Swindon among which is his ownership of vans selling kebabs.

Swindon magistrates heard he is a partner in owning one such van which, earlier this year, was operating from Redposts Drive in Rushey Platt.

Under the consent scheme, Mr Caner had been warned by planning and highways enforcement officers against trading without written consent.

But on February 21, reacting to complaints from residents of nearby Rushey Platt, council enforcement officers found Mr Caner's staff trading from this van.

Mr Caner, who admitted the offence, had applied for planning permission for the pitch in Redposts Drive but planners had refused it on the grounds of highway safety.

In addition to fining him £800, magistrates ordered Caner to pay the council's costs of £514.82.