SCENES of youngsters jostling to buy ice cream outside the school gates after a long day could be a thing of the past if new legislation is passed.

For 60 years, the jingling vans have signified the arrival of summer - but now MPs and health officials are planning measures to restrict the street vendors.

Under an amendment to the Education and Inspection Bill to be put forward this week, councils will be given power to ban ice cream vans from parking near schools.

The move comes after health lobbyists decided ice creams are too much of a danger to children's health.

Yesterday, children and their parents lined the path outside Abbey infant and junior schools, in Darlington, buying ice creams from one of the Darlington Ice Cream company's vans.

Seller Robert Lowther, 30, who has worked for the company for three years, said it would be a shame if they were banned.

He said: "I will be very sad if the Government decides to do this.

"When kids come out of school on a hot day like this, they look forward to having a refreshing ice cream.

"We have been covering Abbey for a lot of years and we also park outside Dodmire, Branksome and Hummersknott schools."

Parents outside the school also criticised the proposal.

The Reverend John Dobson, of All Saints' Church, who has a daughter at the school, said: "It is a very bad idea to stop the ice cream vans. We are becoming a society in which the Government seems to be having quite a lot of say at local level. People should have the freedom of choice."

Mother Deborah Taylor said: "I cannot see a problem with the vans parking near the schools.

"Generally, most children have their parents with them, and the pupils at secondary schools are old enough to buy ice creams themselves."

Angela Beecroft, a North-East clinical nutritionist who specialises in changing the diet of hyperactive children, said: "Ice cream contains no nutrients and lots of sugar, which will send blood sugars soaring, promote inflammation and have a negative effect on the immune system."

But she expressed concern that people might see the move as dictatorial and suggested it would be better to teach parents and children about the importance of healthy eating.

Dr Helen Moore, an obesity research fellow at Teesside University's school of health, said: "I think such a blanket ban on ice cream would give healthy eating a bad reputation.

"The message should be that you should try to eat healthily most of the time, but you can have a treat such as ice cream now and again."