North Lanarkshire Council has placed an exclusion zone on schools in the area that prevents fast food vans from trading within a 250-metre radius in an attempt to combat the growing childhood obesity problem.
The five burger van owners are claiming their human rights, as well as those living and studying within the exclusion zone, have been infringed.
Karen McCluskey, Stephen Kerr, Patricia Hardie, Annmarie Pratt and Caroline Kane raised a case at Hamilton Sheriff Court in an attempt to reverse the ban and the outcome could potentially see similar schemes across the UK reversed.
Scott Blair QC, who is representing the van owners, said the following at a civil hearing yesterday, according to the Scotsman: “Everybody has the right to choose what kind of food they want to put into their body, no matter how healthy or undesirable that food may be.
“Those under 16 may well be influenced by what their parents eat but everybody has a choice as to what they want to eat. There may be nutritional guidelines on school meals but pupils have the right to choose to bring food in from outside the school.”
More and more schools across the UK are implementing exclusion zones, which prevent fast-food or businesses deemed unhealthy from setting up within a specific radius.