A SHOPKEEPER has blasted the abolition of imperial measurement, saying that paying for new scales could cripple small retailers.

All retailers are now legally obliged to sell loose goods which are weighed at the counter in grams and kilograms - legislation that came into force on January 1.

But shopkeeper Coun Joyce Holgate slammed the new laws, saying that businesses would fold and that she had only found out about the implementation of the legislation through newspapers and television.

She said: "I wasn't notified by letter about it. I rang Trading Standards in Preston to find out more about it and to ask why I hadn't received a letter, but they said it was too expensive to send letters to all shops.

"I'm going to have to buy some new scales, which cost about £400 and it will take years to recoup that money in quarters. I can see it will put a lot of shops out of business."

Coun Holgate, proprietor of the Abbey Candy Store, in Whalley and president of the Whalley Chamber of Trade, spent a day re-labelling more than 150 sweet jars to display prices in metric measurements.

She went on: "People are still coming in asking for quarters, but I can only sell then 113gm. My older customers are used to quarters, so all of this is a headache. Why should we conform to Europe?

"A lot of shops have said that they are going to defy it, but they face big fines if caught."

Dave Roderick, of Lancashire Trading Standards, said that the new legislation is the end of a 10-year process to change from imperial to metric measurements mainly aimed at butchers, grocers and fishmongers.

He said that letters had not been sent out to individual traders, but that there had been massive media coverage, and that very few people would have been unaware of the changes.

Mr Roderick added that retailers who continually flout the laws could face fines of up to £1,000, but prosecution will only be used as a last resort.

"We are not going to prosecute traders who have made an effort to convert or are in the process of buying new equipment," he said.

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