UKMA has received evidence that the recent media hullabaloo about the prosecution of a market trader in Hackney was a deliberate setup, designed to reawaken interest in the flagging campaign to preserve obsolete imperial measures.
This is the report from UKMA’s mystery shopper:
“I managed to get away early today (instead of tomorrow) with plenty time to get off at Dalston for the Ridley Rd Market.
In brief..it is one of the most metric markets I’ve seen in the UK!  It is even more kg-only than last time I went through.
All the meat and fish stalls and shops are either predominiantly kg-only..with some having per lb, usually underneath (but that would be about 3 out of approximately 10 shops).  All the fruit and veg stalls showed both kg and lb, varying in kg first or lb first…but well signed and all scales set to kg/g. There were NO lb only stands. A couple of stands seemed empty so may have been where Devers (not to be seen) had/has her stall…
Finally, I walked a good 3/4 of the way through this very long market before I heard ANYONE speaking English! (Absolutely true).
Having done alot of shopping there (as the prices are like a step back in time after Notting Hill) I did get alot of chats with the traders.  Mostly they were Asian, Middle Eastern, African  (I overheard other shoppers all asking for kilos) and they said no-one has ever shown a sign of confusion there.
The English “barra boy” types, who had (like everyone else) scales set to metric, sold me my purchases without fault weighing up exactly in kilos. They were quite jokey, so I got to ask them where the “Ridley Road media star” was?  They pointed further down where I’d been and told me it was all a set-up, as the socalled customers had been asked on camera “how many POUNDS do you think this weighs”.  Then (God knows where they found these “confused Caribbean” people) they replied for the cameras an amount in pounds while filming next to Devers and her stand. Now that’s outrageous!!! (But typical of the media trying to create a story out of nothing.. Seems one big storm in an imperial teacup!)”
So now we know. Or rather our suspicions are confirmed. The great majority of both traders and customers in Ridley Road are perfectly happy with using metric scales and measurements, and there is little local sympathy for the antics of Ms Devers and the bogus “metric martyrs.” Some elements of the media have been complicit in trying to create the opposite impression. None of this is very surprising, but it is disappointing that senior politicians, who ought to know better, appear (or pretend) to have been taken in by it. Sad.
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I would use the word despicable rather than sad to describe this turn of events. We all know that newspapers in the UK aren’t bound by any rules to be “fair and balanced” but broadcasters are!
Perhaps this report should be sent to the Press Complaints Commission and Ofcom and does need to be highlighted wherever possible!
This ‘metric market’ is not typical.
In Worcestershire and in other parts of the UK metric trading regulations are being flouted. The Trading Standards service in Worcestershire does not think the enforcement of these laws is a priority.
This is an important Consumer Protection issue. Customers are being disadvantaged by the failure to fully enforce the regulations. For fruit, vegetables, meat, cheese, etc. customers should be able to compare prices fairly. Supermarkets display unit prices in metric (£x / kg), and the same system of measurement should be seen in markets and on road-side stalls.
I have made many requests to the BBC’s Consumer Protection programmes like ‘You and Yours’ and ‘Watchdog’ to report on the failure of Trading Standards to enforce the law. No luck so far.
http://www.simetricmatters.com / Philip Bladon
i remember an episode of the simpsons when marge says that springfield was the first city in america to abandon the metric system! britain must be the first country to “abandon the metric system so the media tells us” yet has the country really been affected by the metric system? its like the changing of the clocks metric forward imperial back ? if any one asks me how much i paid for my fruit & veg i will say it in kilo’s it is about time the pro-metric voice was heard it has been silent for too long ?
Hmmmm …. it sounds like someone has taken a page out of Karl Rove’s “dirty tricks” playbook!
That’s just not cricket, now is it?
The behaviour of politicians and the meda encourages these sort of antics. You only have to look at events over the last year to see just how ludicrous it all is.
Last year the media was full of rantings about a great victory of the “people” over the Brussels beurocrats. The EU had done a “U turn”. Britian they said can return to imperial measures. Yet a few months later in the new year we hear of a marketeer being brought before magistrates for trading in pounds and ounces, yet there was not a whisper about the obvious contradiction.
Further down the line we hear of a Sec of State pronouncing that he will issue guidelines to kerb the excesses of over-zealous local authorities from such prosecutions. It didn’t occur to him to check the precise background to the Hackney case or what guidelines are already in place. He just played the usual irresponsible populist game like they all do.
When you look at the truth of all this it gets worse. The pronouncement last year was about keeping things as they are, not going back on anything. Furthermore, the real impetous for not ending supplementary indications came from across the Atlantic not from British rebel market traders. America continued to refuse to allow metric-only labelling on imported goods which was an issue for the whole of Europe not just Britain. Of course it wasn’t helped by an EU Commissioner making improper announcements at a time when the ammendment to the directive was still subject to European parliamentary debate.
In my view the media, both British and European politicians have a lot to answer for. Metrication in the UK has been one of the worst victims of the subversive misinformation culture that appears to have taken hold of British society in the 21st century.
The good news is that we are likely to elect a Democrat over here for President along with increased majorities in Congress. That will lead to a new amendment to our laws that will allow metric-only labeling.
Not only will this lead to many (if not most) packaging migrating to metric only, thus rendering the issue in the EU moot, but it can be touted as America’s beginnings of a conversion to metric. While not strictly speaking true, we on the pro-metric side can engage in a little exaggeration to nudge the UK government into completing its metrication in anticipation of a conversion by the USA!
i noticed that when watching bbc breakfast this morning they had metric martyr (they should look up the meaning) janet devas (who ever she is) from hackney on their programme ! the presenter made a mistake by saying that people could use imperial measurements at markets but no mention about along side metric ? bravo (im only joking) it was news when kgs was first used for shops & markets but now they just sound desperate ! i even heard an old lady in the shop today asking how much for a kilo of apples
There was a time in this land when we valued both freedom and tradition. We had the freedom to buy and sell goods in whatever measures suited us as long as both contracting parties were happy with the deal struck then there was no harm. We also valued our traditional ways of doing things.
For many such as myself, taught only imperial in school, the metric system is nothing but meanigless and confusing. When the pro-EU BBC give weights and measures in metric only I find it extremely frustrating as I haven’t a clue as to the real dimensions or weights being described- it spoils the programme.
Added to this, in my experience, it is those who use the metric system of weights and measures who deliberately decieve their customers as they know that when they reduce the weight of pre-packed goods and not the price, few seldom notice they are being ripped off by the metric only merchants – in my opinion it is those standing up for Imperial, such as the extremely brave Janet Devers, who are the honest traders.
I have dealt with the public all my working life and the majority give me dimensions in imperial. Of those who give metric sizes most worry that they have got it wrong as they are not used to using this foreign continental system. All we need is the freedom to use both – it is tyranical and small minded people who dictate that it should be metric only.
Stand at a Delicatessen Counter in any large store and listen to what the people ask for. I have never yet heard any customer ask for anything in other that Quarters, Pounds or ounces. See the goods displayed in four for £1.00 etc.
In response to Derek Bennett:
There is no one alive today who can remember a time when weights and measures were not subject to law when used for trade purposes. The units used are restricted and in many cases the quantities for packaged goods (known as prescribed quantities) are also listed in legally enforced schedules.
Without these controls traders would rip off their customers with inaccurate or vaguely defined measures and subtle differences in sizes that make value for money comparisons difficult or even impossible (unless a declaration of unit price was also legally required).
All civilised societies nowdays have weights and measures as part of trade legislation.
I presume Derek is referring to downsizing in the paragraph alledging metric only being a rip-off. There are incidents where manufacturers have downsized from a rational imperial quantity to a metric one (e.g. an ounce of something to say 25 g) without reducing the price. No one condones this but the reality is that traders will take advantage of such a transition to obscure a price increase which only re-inforces the point that they cannot be trusted to be completely open and honest. In a market where only metric is allowed these scams would not be possible. In a market where both metric and imperial are allowed this kind of deception would go on for ever.
As for being small minded, well I feel sorry for anyone who cannot see the compelling logic of a single system of weighs and measures that everyone can understand and use.
True it requires some learning and a period of adjustment but if people were properly informed about the reason for the change and the long term benefits they would be happy to go along with it. As it is we have all been let down in Britian by successive governments who have not given a proper lead and allowed traders and the media to muddy the waters leaving people totally confused.
Anne Palmer clearly hasn’t been to the delicatessen counter in my local supermarket. I am not alone in ordering by number, rather than weight – e.g. 6 slices of ham. I seldom even look at the weight. What I do look at is the unit price per 100 g. If that unit is per qtr (whatever that is) in some shops then I cannot get a fair comparison and may end up buying the higher priced product in error.