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Ice cream trucks plagued by violence
Pia Marsh
July 8th, 2015
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This article is more than 8 years old.
Hjem-IS staying out of troubled neighbourhoods after series of attacks
The company has faced theft, harassment and assault on the drivers (photo: Hjem-Is)
Denmark’s favourite ice cream truck company Hjem-IS has been forced to close down routes and stop service to specific areas after a series of violent attacks and abuse towards vendors over the past few months.
“Unfortunately, there are some areas of town where we can no longer run because of theft, harassment and assault on the drivers,” company head Frank Waller told MetroXpress.
“The fuse seems to have become shorter. More people use their horns or give us the finger than ever before. People vandalise the cars with complaints such as ‘turn off that damn bell’.”
“But seriously, how bad can it be? We come baring ice cream. You can’t be angry about two minutes of bells every 14 days,” he continued, whilst emphasising that for the most part, customers seem happy.
Forced to cease service due to assault
Frank Sørensen, responsible for Hjem-IS in and around Aarhus, says that service completely stopped running in Gellerupparken four or five years ago due to abuse.
“One of our vendors experienced significant trauma after being assaulted there. People were vandalizing or stealing the cars. Just a few months ago we had ice cream stolen after getting a little too close to Gellerup,” he told MetroXpress.
Nina Fisch, an administrative assistant at Hjem-IS, asserts that the company faces similar issues in Copenhagen.
“We have had to stop running our services in Tingbjerg because of threatening behavior and a vendor who was assaulted,” she told MetroXpress.
“We have employed people who also work as policemen – Hjem-IS is purely their secondary job – as well as vendors from different ethnic backgrounds,” she said.
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