AN ICE cream van driver who drives from Whitley Bay to Swanage once a year to sell ice cream will be returning to the town next month.

Kevin Betteridge, lives in Whitley Bay but makes a 10 hour journey to Swanage once a year to visit family and sell ice cold treats.

The 64-year-old previously worked for a BBC radio station, but when he received early redundancy he spent his money on an ice cream van and "has never looked back".

Now after 20 years of visiting Swanage with his ice cream van, Kevin is excited to be making the 750-mile round trip to return.

He said: "All of my family live in Swanage and my parents moved to Dorset about 25 years ago.

"I go down every year to visit my family, and one year one of my nieces said 'why don’t you bring the ice cream van down?' and I’ve been doing it ever since.

"Everybody loves it.

"I didn’t go last year due to Covid but I usually try to go when the Swanage Carnival is happening as I love it.

"When I visit, my family usually work in the daytime so I pootle around Swanage in my van.

"Everybody in Swanage loves the van and hearing the chimes.

"There’s not another ice cream van there, and people love it.

"They all come out of their houses and wave."

Kevin is planning on returning to Swanage mid to late July and can be found driving around local neighbourhoods rather than visiting the town centre.

Kevin said: "I stock the van before I go with ice cream and lollies, and everything I can fit in the van goes in.

"It’s such great fun, I didn’t realise when I bought my first van how much fun it would be."