Street Trading is defined as the selling or offering for sale of any article in the street; this includes food such as burgers, kebabs, doughnuts etc. or other items such as household goods.
Food traders must be registered with .
Where can I trade?
The council has decided to class roads as either
- Prohibited - where NO trading is allowed at all
- Consent - where a consent is needed
It is a criminal offence to trade in a prohibited street, or to trade in a consent street without having a valid consent. The maximum penalty is a fine of up to £1,000.
You do not need a Street Trading Consent if you are:
- a pedlar with a pedlar's certificate
- in a designated trunk road picnic area (there are none of these in Welwyn Hatfield)
- as a news vendor selling only newspapers/magazines
- at a petrol station
- as a roundsman with regular customers
- a market trader operating at a licensed market venue
Pedlars
A pedlar:
- is a pedestrian
- trades whilst travelling rather than travelling to trade
- goes to customers rather than allowing them to come to the pedlar
- is a seller rather than a mender
- must not remain stationary for long periods of time
- must not set up a stall and wait for people to approach
The Pedlar's Act 1871 is the legislation that governs the regulation of door-to-door selling.
Pedlar's certificates are issued by the police under the following criteria:
- you must be over 17 years of age
- you must have lived in the area concerned for at least one month
- you must be of "good character"
A Pedlar's Certificate is valid for 12 months.
A pedlar who is granted a certificate by one county can trade almost anywhere in the country without obtaining certificates from the other areas they trade in.
Recent consultation sought views on draft regulations to repeal the Pedlar's Acts (UK wide) and to amend the street trading legislation. This would include a new, more precise and up-to-date definition of what behaviour constitutes acting as a pedlar to be inserted into the pedlar exemption from the relevant street trading regimes. The effect of inserting this new definition would be to continue to protect the rights of "genuine" pedlars to operate.
We are awaiting further updates from Central Government regarding this proposed change in the law.
