A MUCH loved Tavistock takeaway van owner has been forced to resign his pitch following police objections to his new licensing application.

Richard Edwards, who ran the takeaway van with his wife Tamara in Bedford Square since 2006, will not be returning post-covid as the changes in proposed trading hours mean it would not be financially viable for the couple to operate their business.

Richard had renewed his former licence on a rolling annual basis, but surrendered it in November 2020 as hospitality venues were closed at the time due to lockdowns caused by the pandemic, meaning there was no business for him to trade.

As restrictions then lifted, he re-applied for the licence to trade up until 6am but police opposed it over concerns that the provision of late night refreshment could lead to alcohol fuelled crime and disorder. They asked that the licence only be granted for trade until 1am with enhanced CCTV measures and this was approved by West Devon Borough Councillors on November 3.

Richard said: ‘We needed at least a 4am closure because the biggest part of our trade centres on when late night venues kick out. The police wanted 1am and that just wasn’t viable. For us this would mean closing a hatch in people’s faces.’

Local police believe there is a direct correlation between the presence of the van in Bedford Square and wider anti-social behaviour in the area (by encouraging patrons to congregate rather than disperse) and officer statements had reinforced this belief.

‘We’ve always helped vulnerable people at night, given them a cup of tea and waited with them after calling a taxi,’ Richard said. ‘The police never objected to the licence on an annually recurring basis. The only thing flagged up to the licensing team by the police was one incident in 2018 of the CCTV not working properly due to a recording error which we rectified immediately.

‘If the police’s current grounds for objection were such an issue, why was this never used to fight the old licence in the last 15 years? What the police failed to bring up in the committee meeting was the number of times they’ve relied on us for CCTV footage which has been used as evidence to help them convict offenders.

‘Our CCTV covered the whole of Bedford Square and had night vision. With the van now gone, I fear this will becoming a ticking time bomb situation. With no proper CCTV coverage and no police around, this puts people at risk. Now people will be waiting around, potentially a long time for a taxi, and there’ll be nowhere for them to get food, drink or shelter.’

All is not lost for Richard, as he is now turning his attention to the running of the family duck farm in Tintagel and their new duck truck which will operate at a new pitch on Polzeath Beach next year.

Richard said: ‘Going forward, it’s about where we put our energy and focus. It took us days to make this really hard decision and if we were to fight this, it would be on principle. We think the police are being very unfair, not just to us but to the people of Tavistock too. Every cloud has a silver lining though; our new pitch evolved because of what’s happened in Tavistock but it’s tainted with a little bit of sadness because we’ve been there for so many years and loved what we did. Assistant town clerk Jan Smallacombe and Tavistock Town Council have been absolutely fantastic to us and really understanding of our situation. We’re so grateful for all their help over the last 15 years.’

Councillor Harry Smith of Tavistock Town Council said: ‘We’ve always tried to be as supportive of Richard and his van as we possibly could throughout the years. He’s always been a very important part of the night time economy in the town. We’ve lost something that’s been around for a considerable amount of time.’