Which is the best ice cream, man and his dog ask Scarborough Council

The bizarre request was made to the borough authority by a man from Redcar under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.

The man, Dennis Wick, wrote to the council after he and his beloved pet could not agree on which was the most popular flavour on the seafront.

His request said: “I would like to know which is the best flavour ice cream in the white ice cream shop where all the seagulls are.

“Because I like chocolate orange but my dog Polly, who is six and a half likes rum and raisin.”

Under the terms of the act, the council must respond to all requests made but on this occasion, it declined to finally settle an age-old argument of what is the top flavour to get on a visit to the seaside.

In response, the council wrote: “As you may be aware, the FOI Act provides a right of access to recorded information held by a public authority.

“It does not require that a public authority provide views, or create information for the purposes of answering a request.

"Accordingly, we cannot handle your query under the FOI Act as it is not a request for recorded information held by the council.”