METRIC martyr Steven Thoburn has failed in his attempt to appeal against a court fine for trading in pounds and ounces.
An appeal committee of three Law Lords, sitting in the highest court of the land, refused to give market trader Mr Thoburn permission to challenge a High Court ruling that European law ""ranks supreme" in Britain.
Mr Thoburn, who was not present at the hearing, was prosecuted by Sunderland City Council for using imperial measures to sell fruit and vegetables.
It is now likely that leave to appeal in the cases of three others prosecuted for using imperial measures will also be refused.
In the hearing before Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Steyn and Lord Scott of Foscote, counsel for Mr Thoburn, Michael Shrimpton, argued that the 1985 Weights and Measures Act authorised traders to continue using imperial measures, even though the UK had signed up to the 1972 European Communities Act and became subject to European directives.
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