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East End's metric martyr trader to stand trial
Evening Standard27 May 2008
A market trader will stand trial for selling vegetables in pounds rather than kilos after a legal bid to have the case thrown out failed.
Janet Devers, 63, is accused of selling dates at £1.90 per pound, instead of statutory metric measurements, from her market stall in the East End.
Mrs Devers, whose family have run the stall in Dalston for 60 years, is also charged with selling sweetcorn, Chinese cabbage, pak choi and scotch bonnets either without any clear price or without a price referring to kilos.
Mrs Devers, of of Wanstead, has been hailed as the latest "metric martyr" to challenge regulations originally from the EU which were aimed at outlawing the use of Imperial measurements.
During a preliminary hearing at Snaresbrook Crown Court, barrister Nicholas Bowen argued that the prosecution, which is being brought by Hackney Council, was an "abuse of process".
Reader views (3)
i hope that the councillors who approve of this action are voted out of office at the next council elections
- j pestell, london, 28/05/2008 10:40
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Where is the public interest in prosecuting this case ?
-Have the Courts and Hackney Council better things to do than waste the public purse in such trival matters ?
- Simon Mctintock, London, UK, 28/05/2008 10:19
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Well done! Perhaps us, the unelected majority, may have our say one day.
- Alan, Wilts, 27/05/2008 22:24
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