A BURGER van man is being forced from his pitch in Selby town centre because council officers say food grease from the business will ruin the newly- upgraded area.

Four hundred people have signed a petition calling for Tony Crombie to continue selling burgers, hotdogs and chips from his van in Market Place, as he has done so on Friday and Saturday nights for the last eight years.

But Selby District Council has told him that, following the Renaissance Project – which saw £1.3 million spent on the area, much of it on York stone – he will have to move to a new pitch.

A report to the council’s licensing committee said: “It would be inappropriate for a burger van to occupy the area where the likelihood was that the stone would become spoiled by deposits of grease and other debris resulting from the sale of snacks.”

The committee is being asked to pass a resolution that the designation of Market Place be changed from a consent street to a prohibited street. This would ban anyone from serving cooked food from a stall – although it would not ban the burger van from Selby Market, as this is covered under a different act.

Mr Crombie, 60, of Lordship Lane, Wistow, said he was a lorry driver by trade, but he took the burger business on as it allowed him to be at home as much as possible to be with his disabled wife.

He said if he was barred, his business will have to close. “I’ve been in Market Place for seven or eight years now and there was a van there before me.

“There’s been a burger van there for the last 20 years. The council said they don’t want me, as I spoil the look of the new Market Place.”

Mr Crombie said he did not want to move his pitch as there was nowhere else in town with as much passing trade.

“We’re in the middle of everything,” he said, “You get people passing all the time.”

He refuted claims his business would damage the area.

He said: “I clean up every night I’m there, I swill it down and there’s no grease there. I sweep all round the Market Cross area, but if you go outside some other takeaway shops, there’s rubbish all over.”

A Facebook group has been set up called Save Tony’s Burger Van which has nearly 400 members.

The Facebook page states: “Selby Council want Tony to move. We need everyone’s support to stop them, save the mega triple burger and join this group.”

Selby Council’s licensing committee will meet on April 12 to decide whether the burger van can stay in Market Place.