An ice cream seller caught trading illegally in Hounslow has been ordered to pay £1,710.

Laurence Vella continued serving customers from his Mr Softee van in the pedestrianised area of Holloway Street, just off Hounslow High Street, despite what Hounslow Council said were repeated warnings to cease.

He did not hold the necessary street trading licence, and the council said he had illegally mounted the kerb to drive around a barrier and access the site.

The 58-year-old, of Munster Road, Teddington, admitted six counts of illegal street trading which occurred between June 2 and July 21 last year.

He was sentenced at Feltham Magistrates' Court on April 13, when he was ordered to pay £690 in fines and £1,000 towards the council's costs, along with a £20 victim surcharge.

The father-of-four, who claims to have been selling ice creams in and around Hounslow since he was a boy, has been locked in a dispute with the council for more than six years after being refused a trading licence to operate at the site.

Hounslow Council said he had previously been prosecuted twice by Richmond Council for illegal street trading, in 2010 and 2013.