> >which is less then a week away. What can we expect to happen on the first
> >day? Would this be a one day court case,
>
If I remember rightly, the offence is 'summary only' which means it can
only go before a magistrate, not a jury. The court will probably ask for
an estimate of how long the solicitors/barristers think they need. If
they do not have sufficient space in the court schedule then it will be
adjourned for an 'effective date' when they will set aside that amount
of time. (They may have done this already).
The first day will probably take longer than Chris thinks because there
is likely to be an attempt to convince the court that there is 'no case
to answer'. Since the offence is using an unstamped machine and this is
a simple matter of fact, there will then be an attempt to show that the
obliteration of the stamp was itself unlawful, rendering the rest of the
case invalid. This has more of a chance since it depends on the
interpretation of the legislation.
At the end of the day the result is likely to have little bearing on the
question of metrication, since the offence only indirectly relates to
the use of Imperial units.
