Mobile food vehicles

Mobile Food Vehicles must be registered with the authority in the same way as other food premises.  This is free and must be done 28 days before trade commences.  The local authority that you must register with is dependant upon the borough in which the vehicle is kept overnight.  If your vehicle is kept in Merthyr Tydfil overnight please visit the Food Business Registration page to find out how to register.

We receive a large number of queries every year from people like yourself who may wish to start up a mobile food business.  In the majority of these cases finding a suitable vehicle and registering it is the the easy part.  Finding somewhere suitable to site the vehicle in order to prepare and serve food from it is, in most cases, problematic.  It is a widely held belief that any layby and piece of open land is fair game for setting up a mobile food vehicle but this is not the case.  You are likely to be moved on unless you have permission to use a particular piece of land, either by the landowner or the police or both.

With regards Highways, laybys and any other Council land, permission will generally not be given. Permission is usually refused on the grounds of Highway Safety.  If you do find a pitch that you have permission to use, either privately or via the Estates Department of the Council, you are likely to need planning permission even if the vehicle is moved daily.

If you have found a pitch and have permission to operate, and have contacted the Planning Department for advice on planning permission for your vehicle, please register with us via the Food Business Registration page.