PRESS
ANNOUNCEMENT 8 OCT
2000,11pm
Full text of
Summons Click Here
Result of Hearing 7th
November 2000
whilst a group of petty shop lifters were dashing around on JCBs at
the Dome under the watchful eye of heavily armed dustbin men a really
important crime was under investigation
A master CRIMINAL was under the close scrutiny of the press and TV
The master criminal as far as Tiny Blur and the other traitors in
Westminster was fighting for his life
Steve Thoburn was in Court under the eyes of the world for his
heinous crime.
Steve's able Barrister before the Courts in Sunderland, Michael
Shrimpton, was at the peak of his barristerial prowess as he fought to
save his client.
The District Judge, with sighs of relief from Steve's family and
friends, did NOT don his black cap, the death penalty being now no
longer an option,
In strenorous tones, whilst endeavoring to suppress his mirth, the
District Judge sentenced Steve Thorburn to appear before the Courts in
January 2001, setting aside the 15th, 16th & 17th for the trial of
Steven Thoburn for the heinous and hideous crime of SELLING 1lb. of
bannana's for the sum of 25p.
This is a deciding and important trial for all the levity displayed.
The outcome of this trial will in fact establish whther Westminster
has the right to make law or whether ALL laws from Westminster are
superceded by EUropean Union diktat.
Should we be forced to take this case further - to the House of Lords
- please be aware that the monkeys at Westminster will need to buy
some 800,000 1lb. bunches of bananna's from Steve as the costs could
run to £200,000.
PLEASE help to make sure that we have the resources to fight this case
to a conclusive WIN - a win which is a decisive establishment of the
right of
British people through the British Parliament at Westminster to make
and enact laws for the benefit of the British peoples and our Nation.
PLEASE make any donation YOU can afford via Jeoffrey Titford MEP's
Office making cheques, postal orders or direct debits payable to:
The Metric Martyrs Fund.
Jeffrey Titford, M.E.P.
MEMBER FOR EASTERN COUNTIES
Rooms 1 & 2, Rochester House,
145 New London Road,
CHELMSFORD,
Essex, CM2 0QT
Tel: Chelmsford (01245) 266466
or
251651
Top
Hearing at 2pm 7th
November 2000
First Criminal Prosecution for Selling in Pounds and Ounces:
UKIP will back Sunderland Trader 'All the Way'
After over 9 months' stand-off between U.K. Trading Standards Officers
and an estimated 40,000 small traders still selling loose goods in
Pounds and
Ounces and against the wishes of the overwellming majority of the
British Peoples, the first criminal summons was handed out to
Sunderland greengrocer
Steve Thoburn on Friday (6 October) by Sunderland City Council's
Solicitors.
The summons charges him with using 'unstamped scales'. The only
reason Trading Standards refused to stamp them was because they
weighed in pounds
and ounces rather than kilograms. Steve Thoburn was in the news in
July when two Trading Standards Officers accompanied by two Police
Officers swooped on his market stall and removed three, allegedly
illegal, Imperial scales.
The U.K. Independence Party has already paid over £1,000 of Steve
Thoburn's legal expenses and has agreed to commit the Party's
specially-established
'Metric Martyrs' Fund' to help meet the cost of the prosecution. 'The
Sun' newspaper is believed to be offering some financial support as
well.
Said Jeffrey Titford, Leader of the U.K. Independence Party and
Eastern Region M.E.P. who launched UKIP's anti-metrication campaign
last October:
"Over 90% of British people understand and prefer Pounds and
Ounces. The nation cannot comprehend why our government has decided to
make criminals
out of British shopkeepers selling to their customers in traditional
British weights and measures. This was a free country - but with E.U.
Directives like the 'compulsory kilograms' Directive, that is
changing. We will support Steve Thoburn every step of the way.'
NOTE: UKIP obtained a legal Opinion from constitution and
weights-and-measures expert Michael Shrimpton in December. He advised
in
clear terms that it remained legal to sell in Pounds and Ounces under
Section 1, Weights and Measures Act 1985. He said that this Act
trumped the
subsequent 1994 Metrication Regulation (passed incidentally by Michael
Heseltine). UKIP has retained Michael Shrimpton to act for Steve
Thoburn in
the proceedings.
UKIP's Factsheet "21 Vital Facts for Traders", explaining
the legality of selling in Pounds and Ounces, has been sent to tens of
thousands of traders
and is available from Jeffrey Titford's constituency office (see
below).
FORTHCOMING EVENT: A major anti-metric, pro-Steve Thoburn
meeting will be held at the Barnes Hotel, Sunderland on Wednesday 17
October. Hundreds of Thoburn supporters are expected to attend. In an
unusual move, a Daily Telegraph editorial on 7 September gave
details of this meeting, a contact telephone number, and urged its
readers to attend. Speakers at the meeting include:
Nigel Farage M.E.P. (UKIP), Vivian Linacre (Director, British Weights
and Measures Association) and alleged criminal Steve Thoburn.
Other speakers are planned
CONTACTS:
UKIP: Jeffrey Titford M.E.P. 01255 676577
Mobile 0836 223090
Jeffrey
Titford's Constituency Office (as above - please ask for Tony Bennett,
Solicitor and Political Assistant)
Sunderland:
Steve Thoburn, greengrocer Day 0191 516 0199
or Mobile 0402 509968 (Eve 0191 567 1869)
Neil Herron (fishmonger still selling in Pounds and
Ounces, assisting Steve Thoburn with a local
campaign) Day 0191 510 8148
Mobile 07776 202045 (Eve 0191 522 6308)
Michael Shrimpton, barrister METRICATION a full
legal 'Opinion'
http://www.SilentMajority.co.uk/EUroRealist/Weights
U.K. Independence Party
Office of Jeffrey Titford, M.E.P.
MEMBER FOR EASTERN COUNTIES
Rooms 1 & 2, Rochester House,
145 New London Road,
CHELMSFORD,
Essex, CM2 0QT
Tel: Chelmsford (01245) 266466 or
251651
e-mail address:
ukipeast@globalnet.co.uk
website address:
www.independenceuk.org.uk
Fax: 01245 252071
ISDN line: 01245 251427
Many retailers like myself have NO objection to supplying customers in
goods measured metrically, it is the compulsion and criminalisation of
individuals
for supplying other than in metric measures which is aborrant. As a
retailler my aim is to provide the service my customers want, my very
existence is dependent on service to my clients. If my clients wish to
purchase by the inch, the meter or by the dustbin lid full in a free
country it must be considered a legal transaction as long as that
transaction suits
the vendor and purchaser.
Further it should be remembered that the largest trading nation on the
planet and Britain's largest trading partner the USA tried
experimenting
with the introduction of metrication - the experiment was a failure as
metric measurements are unsound for daily transactions being a
contrived
measurement for scientific use. You will recall that NASA's
probe to Mars was lost at a cost of Billions of Dollars due to the use
of metric measurements!
Top
Free
the Sunderland scales
and Tesco join the fight.
Full text of letter
sent yesterday (17 July) by Jeffrey Titford M.E.P. and leader of
UKIP to all Chief Trading Standards Officers in the United Kingdom:
17 July, 2000
Chief Executive/General Manager
(sent to the Chief Executives of all Trading Standards Authorities)
Dear Sir/Madam
RE: Shopkeepers, Market Traders and others selling loose goods in
Pounds and
Ounces: 1.) Sunderland events 2.) Tescos
We write to you as a matter of urgency following the sensational
events in
Sunderland, where a British greengrocer calmly selling fruit to
British
customers in pounds and ounces was forced to yield up three Imperial
scales
to two Trading Standards Officers and two Police Officers who
threatened him
with arrest for causing a breach of the peace, if he did not bow to
the
demands of Trading Standards Officers to give up his scales.
Today Tescos
has announced that it will lead in pounds and ounces, not only in
loose
goods but also for many pre-packaged goods, thus thumbing its nose at
an
E.U. Directive ordering Britain to use pounds and ounces as a
supplementary
indicator only.
This unprecedented action in Sunderland has horrified a large section
of the
nation, caused many of the country's leading journalists to question
what is
going on in our country, and has attracted international attention.
Sunderland City Council has been asked to return the scales to Mr
Thoburn,
refund him the £1,304 that he unnecessarily had to spend on three
alternative dual use Imperial/metric scales, and compensate him for
the
unusual and humiliating circumstances under which his scales were
seized.
Sunderland Council has now responded to our letters. They claim
their
actions are justified under certain Weighing Equipment Regulations
dated
1988, and Section 11 (2) of the Weights and Measures Act 1985.
Michael Shrimpton, the barrister who has been advising us to date in
this
matter, is absolutely certain that there is no legal authority
whatsoever
under those - or any other - Regulations, for the seizure of those
scales.
However, they have conceded that they have not thought their actions
through, and are now asking for time in which to brief counsel, and
obtain
counsel's opinion on all the many issues involved in the case.
We are
giving them an opportunity to obtain counsel's opinion, but I can tell
you
that if the scales are not returned, and Mr Thoburn does not obtain a
refund
and compensation, legal action will be taken against Sunderland City
Council.
Two legal options are currently under consideration, not necessarily
mutually exclusive.
One would be an action for return of Mr Thoburn's goods under the
common law
principle of "trespass of goods". Such an action would
also include a claim
for "serious constitutional misconduct". Exemplary
damages would be claimed
because of the apparent outrage to the constitution - four officers of
the
local authority and the police acting beyond their powers, and in
contradiction of Section 1 of the Weights and Measures Act 1985.
An alternative way of proceeding has been put to us by one of the six
barristers who has been advising us throughout, Neil Addison.
Neil Addison is the author of two books: "Harassment - Law
and Practice",
and "Guide to the Protection from Harassment Act". He
also has an internet
site: www.harassment-law.co.uk.
He advises us that Sunderland City Council, as a corporate body, its
two
Trading Standards Officers Mr Peter Fallon and Mr Richard Reading, and
any
other senior Trading Standards Officer who approved the
"swoop", may all be
guilty of harassment either under Section 1 of the Protection from
Harassment Act 1997, or under Section 241 (1) (c) of the Trade Union
and
Labour Relations Act 1992. Again, since the "swoop"
appears to be
completely unauthorised under Section 1 of the Weights and Measures
Act, the
advice we have received is that all the above could have committed
criminal
offences.
Back in December 1999, I used my European Parliamentary allowances to
seek a
legal Opinion on the legality of the 1994 Weights and Measures (Units
of
measurement) Regulations, and other Regulations, which the government,
through the Department of Trade and Industry and Trading Standards
Officers,
were claiming as authority for requiring small shopkeepers, traders
and
other retailers to sell loose goods only in the metric system.
Michael
Shrimpton's clear legal Opinion is that Section 1 of the Weights and
Measures Act entitles traders to sell in Imperial measures if they
wish, and
that no subsequent Regulations purporting to contradict that Section
are
valid.
Moreover, the Department of Trade and Industry, and many Senior
Trading
Standards Officers, have been challenged by us to explain in detail
why they
disagree with Michael Shrimpton's Opinion. The Department of
Industry's
lawyers have been working on the problem for six months, and are
reported as
"finalising" their response to Michael Shrimpton's Opinion.
It is apparent
to us, to British Weights and Measures Association, and other
observers,
that the Department of Trade and Industry has no answer to Michael
Shrimpton
's Opinion.
There is, I am sure you will agree, the most profound difficulty in
this
situation for all concerned, because of the huge uncertainty in the
law. My
Party is about to use its funds, including the Metric Martyr's Fund,
to sue
Sunderland City Council and, if this proceeds, it will no doubt become
a
historic test case on the validity of Section 1 of the Weights and
Measures
Act 1985.
Against that background, we invite you to consider suspending any
further
actions which attempt to persuade and coerce traders selling loose
goods in
Imperial measures into changing to the metric system. We believe
the proper
course to follow is to suspend that activity, pending the result of a
test
case, or pending receipt of Sunderland City Council's legal Opinion.
It may
well be that Sunderland City Council's legal Opinion advises that
Michael
Shrimpton is right. In that case, of course, Steven Thoburn's
scales would
have to be returned and he would have to be refunded his expenses and
compensated.
The announcement today by Tescos fatally underines the authority for
requiring traders to lead in kilograms. Please let me know
whether you will
now be withdrawing your advice to traders, so that they can now lead
in
pounds and ounces if they want to.
We and the British Weights and Measures Association have been appalled
at
some of the accounts of intimidation we have received from across the
country. Some of you receiving this letter will have already
received one
or more letters from us about individual traders. The conduct of
some
Trading Standards Officers has, quite frankly, been extremely
oppressive.
We now have an enormous file of specific instances of intimidatory
conduct
by Trading Standards Officers all round the country. Should the
Sunderland
situation establish that there has been criminal conduct by Trading
Standards Officers, or by Sunderland City Council, all our files will
be
made available for use in possible prosecutions elsewhere.
Enforcement Concordat: Trading Standards
In our correspondence with many authorities, Chief Trading Standards
Officers have proudly referred us to their authority's adoption of the
"Trading Standards Enforcement Concordat".
In your response to this letter, please advise me whether your
authority has
signed up to the Trading Standards Enforcement Concordat. Please
also
advise me on what date you did so. If you have not yet done so,
please
could you tell me why you have not.
May I quote from the Standard "Enforcement Concordat":
"The Concordat is a code of practice promoted by the Better
Regulation Unit
of the Cabinet Office".
"We believe that the Concordat creates a better atmosphere for
mutual
understanding".
"We will endeavour to minimise the costs of compliance by
ensuring that any
action we require you to carry out is proportionate to the risks
involved".
"Officers will ensure compliance to the law by advising those
concerned of
the requirements, in as clear and concise a manner as possible.
Such advice
will be given in writing if requested, specifying the action to be
carried
out by the trader, the legislation requiring such compliance, and the
time
scale involved. The advice will indicate whether it is a legal
requirement,
or whether it is a matter of practice".
"We will invite discussion of the circumstances of a particular
case before
taking formal enforcement action."
"Where there are rights of appeal against formal action, advice
on the
appeal mechanism will be clearly set out in writing at the time the
action
is taken."
We believe that many authorities have breached the Enforcement
Concordat
worded in those, or broadly similar, terms. I should be grateful
if you
could please ensure that your Chief Trading Standards Officer is aware
of
the general principles of the Department of Trade and Industry's
"Trading
Standards Enforcement Concordat", and that it is implemented in
your
authority.
In the case of some authorities, we have had good relations with
Trading
Standards staff. Indeed, some Trading Standards Departments are
taking no
action to enforce compulsory metrication, and others are taking their
own
legal Opinions. There are many parts of the country where the
majority of
traders are still selling in pounds and ounces, and you will be aware
of the
U.K. Weighing Federations latest figures which show around 38,000 out
of
98,000 independent retailers still selling in pounds and ounces.
Some
Trading Standards Officers have conceded to us that they deeply resent
the
European Union and the government putting them in such a difficult
situation.
You will also no doubt be aware of intense consumer support for those
traders who have been intimidated and are being intimidated into
converting
into the metric system. Two telephone polls have shown,
respectively, 97%
and 98% support for traders selling in pounds and ounces. I can
give you
further details of those telephone polls if required. Surveys
conducted by
British Weights and Measures Association and others show extremely
strong
consumer preference for carrying on selling in pounds and ounces.
No Trading Standards Officer anywhere in the country has yet explained
to
me, my Party or my Constituency Office the justification for this
legislation. It is deeply resented and opposed by the British
people, and
especially knowing that it is being done to comply with European Union
Directives. These Directives are not of course valid in so far
as they
conflict with Section 1 of the Weights and Measures Act, 1985.
I am sure that Trading Standards Officers besides those we have spoken
to,
deeply resent being caught in between British traders and the general
public
who want to retain the freedom to carry on selling in pounds and
ounces, and
orders apparently coming from the Department of Trade and Industry to
accelerate the process of compulsory metrication. I believe the
correct and
proper approach for you and your authority would be to stand back from
any
measures designed to continue compulsory metrication until the legal
issues
have been clarified in a court case.
I would make a formal request to you that you place the entire issue
of your
authority's compulsory metrication programme before a special meeting
of
your local authority. I have made this request to many of you
already, but
have only heard of a handful of instances where the Members of the
Authority
have been consulted. Since Trading Standards Officers have
delegated
authority from the Members, I believe that reports to the Members
should be
made as a matter of urgency.
When you reply, please let me know whether a recent report on this
issue has
been placed before Members; if so, please let me have a copy of that
report
and a note of any decision made. If you have not already placed
this
controversial subject before Members, could you please let me know if
you
intend to do so.
This letter is being sent to all Trading Standards Officers in the
United
Kingdom. I would appreciate your urgent response.
Yours sincerely
Jeffrey Titford M.E.P., Leader
UK Independence Party
U.K. Independence Party
Office of Jeffrey Titford, M.E.P.
MEMBER FOR EASTERN COUNTIES
Rooms 1 & 2, Rochester House, 145 New London Road, CHELMSFORD,
Essex, CM2
Tel: Chelmsford (01245) 266466 or 251651 Fax: 01245
252071
e-mail address:
ukipeast@globalnet.co.uk
ISDN line: 01245 251427
