Health-and-safety spoilsports stop pensioner selling home-made cakes for charity

Slices of her delicious lemon drizzle, coffee and walnut, carrot and orange, date and walnut and pear, pistachio and dark chocolate offerings go down a treat.

On bank holidays over the last two years Mrs Tovey, 52, has raised nearly £1,000 for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution by selling tea and cakes from her chalet home.

Now council bosses have put a halt to it all - claiming she is running a business and must stump up for a £5 million public liability insurance policy.

Shocked: Diane Tovey has been told to stop selling cakes to raise money for the RNLI

An exasperated Mrs Tovey said: 'I don't know what the world is coming to. I think it is quite disgusting.'

On no more than eight days a year she and her husband David, 63, also a retired chef, sell the home-baked cakes from the garden of the two-bedroom chalet they own at Humberston Fitties, near Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire.

The Toveys set up tables and chairs so up to a dozen people can enjoy buns for 30p, cake for 40p or 50p, and a large scone, jam and fresh cream for £1.20 - all with tea, coffee or orange squash.

Just two months ago environmental inspectors from North East Lincolnshire Council awarded the Toveys four out of five stars for food hygiene after they asked to be allowed to continue selling cakes.

But now the council - to whom they pay ground rent - has told them that trading at their chalet contravenes their tenancy agreement.

Insurance companies have quoted them £150 a year for the required cover - but have said it is totally unnecessary.

Mr Tovey said: 'We were first contacted by the council when a new site manager spotted posters advertising our cake stall and sent a threatening letter asking us to stop what we were doing.

'She claimed she had received an anonymous letter claiming we were selling cakes on a regular basis. That is just not true.

'We have raised about £900 for the RNLI and have the receipts to prove it. If we had to take out insurance it would make serious inroads into the amount we hand over.

'I wouldn't mind if we were getting busloads of visitors but there's hardly a crowd round here.

'We've had to stop baking cakes to sell and the council are even quibbling over our tables in the garden on planning grounds. How stupid can you get?'

Mother-of-five Mrs Tovey, who has undergone a triple heart bypass, cannot work or go out without help.

She said: 'Baking cakes and selling them for charity is my way of trying to connect with people.

'The site manager suggested we trade from the local community hall but to me it's just an office-cum-toilet block - and they even wanted us to pay to use it.

'I raise funds for the RNLI because they are one of the bravest groups of people on the planet and I appreciate lifesavers after what I have been through.'

The RNLI has now voiced its support for the Toveys.

A spokeswoman said: 'It will be a great shame if Diane and David have to stop their fundraising.

'Over the years they have shown great dedication to raising money to help us save lives at sea and their cakes have obviously proved very popular.'

But the council insists it has no choice in the matter because as a landowner it could be found liable if any customer made a claim against the Toveys.

A spokesman said: 'If we consent to something and the tenant is not insured and a customer submits a claim against Mr Tovey, as the land is ours and we are party to the agreement we could be pulled into proceedings and potentially be liable as well.'