CAMPAIGNERS fighting to save imperial measurements will today learn the long-awaited outcome of a High Court battle waged by the so-called metric martyrs.
Five market traders who faced legal action will find out whether they have the right to ditch the kilogram and trade in pounds and ounces.
The first person to be convicted for breaching the Weights and Measures Act of 1985 was Steve Thoburn, of Sunderland.
During a three-day hearing last November, counsel for the five, Michael Shrimpton, said making it a criminal offence to sell a pound of bananas in order to please Brussels threatened to cause a deep constitutional crisis.
Backed by celebrities, including singer Elaine Page, actor Edward Fox, comedian John Cleese and Lord Tebbitt, the metric martyrs are fighting convictions and civil court orders against them after defying weights and measures inspectors. They faced legal action after the Government complied with European metrication directives, by making it a criminal activity last year to sell goods in imperial measures.
Their lawyers are asking Lord Justice Laws and Mr Justice Crane to rule that the 1985 Weights and Measures Act provided a loophole which meant EU directives requiring goods to be sold in metric units did not apply in England and Wales.
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