Ice cream man’s joy as hundreds and thousands back pitch battle

PETITION OVER PARK SITE APPROACHES 7,500-SIGNATURE TARGET

AN ice cream man has said he “can’t believe” how much support he has received as a petition to keep him on his pitch approached its target.

Gary Redfearn has been selling Huddersfield-made Dixons Milk Ices in and around Beaumont Park for more than 20 years.

But there were fears that Gary, 59, may lose his spot when it was stated by Dixons that the tender had been awarded to another company based in Bradford by Kirklees Council.

Locals were outraged and a petition to keep Mr Redfearn in place was set up to urge the council to allow him to stay.

The petition, which had a target of 7,500 signatures, says: “Dixon’s are a local business that have been making ice cream for over 60 years located just down the road from the park. It has been a long standing tradition for visitors to the park for generations to have a Dixon’s and enjoy the surroundings.

“Come on Kirklees, please sort this out or there will be a lot of disappointed visitors not being able to get the very best delicious local ice cream, especially after the terrible year we have all had.”

The petition now has more than 6,800 signatures.

Gary said: “I can’t believe how many people got behind it. We will just have to see what happens.”

I can’t believe how many people got behind it. We will just have to

see what happens.

Since the petition began, Kirklees Council said the tender process has not been completed and therefore it could still be awarded to Dixons and Gary.

Gary said he couldn’t comment any further but that a decision is expected to be made in the next week.

A spokesman for the council said: “When there is competition for an exclusive licence to trade in a public place like Beaumont Park, we have to make a fair decision through a strict tender process which assesses and scores applications on a number of factors. This process has not yet been completed so it’s not appropriate to comment any further at this point.”