In order to keep within the law a trader has to be able to sell fruit and vegetables to their customers by metric weight. But, for example, prices can still quite legally be displayed as a price per pound provided that the price per metric unit of weight is also displayed with equal or greater prominence. Where items are sold by number, not weight, then no metric measurement is required.
Steve Thoburn was convicted of two offences of using weighing equipment that was not stamped by a Weights and Measures Inspector. The stamps had been obliterated because the scales were not capable of weighing in the metric system. Colin Hunt was convicted of six offences of failing to display a unit price per kilogram. In addition, he was convicted of four offences of delivering a lesser quantity of goods than corresponded with the price charged. John Dove was convicted of two offences of failing to display a unit price per kilogram and of two offences of using a scale that was only capable of weighing in the imperial system. Julian Harman was convicted of two offences of failing to display a unit price per kilogram and of two offences of using a scale that was only capable of weighing in the imperial system. Peter Collins appealed against conditions on his street trading licence. These conditions, in effect, required him to sell his goods in metric quantities but also permitted him to use imperial quantities as supplementary units.
