A Bracknell kebab van has had its licence revoked after an emotional council meeting saw councillors withdraw its consent to trade.

Residents living near to A&A Plus Kebabs on Bull Lane, Bracknell claimed to the council that the van had breached its licence as it was too loud, encouraged anti-social behaviour and let off bad smells.

The council’s licensing panel met on Thursday (October 10) to decide whether to revoke the kebab van owner’s licence to trade.

The objecting couple, who did not wish to be named, told the News after the decision: “We’re happy with the outcome – it’s sad that the trader and us have had to be put through this.

“They have the right to trade, we have the right to peace and quiet in our home.

“I feel that we were never consulted about this kebab van turning up, it was just suddenly on our doorstep – we had no input whatsoever.

“How can anybody not be upset by that? This all could have been avoided from the very beginning.

“It’s a great relief and a great weight off our chest. We’ve had a year of it and we’ve had a lot to deal with.

“We could have well done without having to deal with this and gather all this evidence, it’s taken a lot of time out of our lives.

“We’re just happy that it’s all over now.

Hatice Bunker, the licence owner, told the News she was “devastated” at the verdict.

She said: “I am shocked, I am really surprised.

“We are hard working people.

“It is frustrating for me but I am hoping Bracknell Forest Council will help me to find another pitch or this business will never be open again.

“It will be devastating for my family – it means starting from square one, it means building up my client base again, getting new leaflets, giving them out and starting again.

“I try to build a reputation and I can’t understand how the people of the licencing panel did not come and make a visit to the site.”

Mrs Bunker, who has lived in Bracknell for 18 years, said: “I am part of Bracknell, I work here, all my family live here.

The revoking of the licence meant the van was unable to trade immediately from Thursday evening (October 11).

Bracknell Forest Council’s licensing officer is set to discuss Mrs Bunker’s options with her going forward on October 12.

She told the News she plans to hold a demonstration on Bull Lane should she not find a new place to trade.

The owner said: “I’m going to make a demonstration, chaining myself on to the pole on Bull Lane.

“I’m going to wear a kebab costume and chain myself to there every Friday night.”

The van was set to celebrate it’s one-year opening anniversary on October 21st and Mrs Bunker said: “I spent a year of my time, my effort, my money.

“My business was going to be one year old in a couple of days and they decide to shut it.”

The decision was taken by the licensing panel, which was made up of councillors Nick Allen, Chris Tullett and Pauline McKenzie, after almost two hours of intense discussions.

The meeting started with the council’s licensing officer telling the panel about the dispute.

A letter was submitted to the council complaining about the van in July 2018 following a meeting between the residents, an officer and councillor Tina McKenzie-Boyle.

The letter outlined the resident’s reasons for wanting the fast food joint gone, which included loud noise, smells and anti-social behaviour originating from the site.

The resident was then told to keep a diary of all the incidents where the vendor had supposedly breached its trading licence and they came back to the council with eight pages of grievances spanning over a month.

Bracknell Forest Council (BFC) carried out a consultation following the complaint and received a response from another resident.

However the council’s licensing officer also noted that since the News broke the story of the van’s possible closure, the authority “received a number of emails in support of the trader.”

Documents available on the council’s website show eleven letters supporting the vendors were received by the council since October 6, claiming there is no or little noise, anti-social behaviour or smells coming from the van’s site, which praise the family for their role in supporting the community and which commend the traders for their friendliness.

The objectors were first to give their evidence for their request to revoke the van’s licence.

They were forced to draw a picture detailing the proximity of their house to the van’s space on Bull Lane, which was said to be 50 metres, and also presented video evidence to the panel.

They said: “We smell it in the house, we have to shut our windows, there is a consistent stream of food cooking.

“It is the consistent noise several hours a day, every day.

“There is never any respite from it – there has been some foul language out there.

Councillor McKenzie asked the objectors if the van’s presence had increased anti-social behaviour since its licence was approved in October 2017.

An objector said: “It definitely has.

“It always comes from the same area – we have not had that noise prior to the kebab van being there.

After this it was the licence owner’s turn to speak and Mrs Bunker piled the pressure on to the council.

She said: “The council has failed to come to the van to check the source of noises because at the end of the day there are lots of people walking back from the Lexicon passing by Bull Lane.

“There are two schools nearby – how do we know this anti social behaviour is not from the schools?

Mrs Bunker also claimed there were inconsistencies in the objector’s evidence that hadn’t been considered by the panel

Halfway through giving her evidence, Mrs Bunker was interrupted by Cllr Nick Allen who asked if there would be “much more” (evidence to give).

The van owner said: “Yes, this is a family business and this is our livelihood.

“I want to represent my case as much as possible.”

Cllr Allen later claimed he smelt the cooking smells when he visited the site and Cllr Tullett asked the objector is she could confirm that no noise came from the site, to which she replied there was only “sensible noise.”

However the objector responded to this claim saying: “there is always noise coming from the van – there is no doubt about it.

“We have nothing against the traders whatsoever… their licence is being breached in quite a few different ways.”

The two parties were allowed to give their final arguments before councillors left the room for ten minutes to discuss what they had heard.

They returned to inform the panel that A&A Plus Kebabs’ licence to trade had been revoked.