Trader fined for Sunday opening

By Conor McAuley
BBC reporter

Inspectors found the shop open before 1300 BST on a Sunday

A County Armagh shop owner has been prosecuted by the local council for breaching Sunday trading laws.

Gary McDonald, a Supervalu franchisee at Gilpinstown Road in Lurgan, was fined £750 and ordered to pay costs of about £800.

Under current legislation large shops - more than 280sq metres - can only open between 1300 and 1800 BST on Sundays.

The case was taken by Craigavon Borough Council. Mr McDonald said he is intending to appeal the decision.

A solicitor for the council told the local magistrates' court that following complaints from members of the public, inspectors had called at the premises on 18 December 2005 and found it open at 1130 am.

The council wrote to the shop owners and warned them that further breaches would mean court action.

The owners wrote back claiming that as parts of their shop - such as the off-licence and the delicatessan counter - had been shut, that brought their retail area under the legal limit and meant they were entitled to open.

The inspectors made another visit in May 2006 and found the shop open at 1225 pm.

It was then that the decision was taken to bring the court case.

'Heavy fine'

The council solicitor told the court: "The owner has always accepted that he opened before 1pm, but believed it only referred to the bits of the shop that were open, and when certain tills, which were closed, were taken out of the equation, that took him below the 250sq m rule."

A solicitor for the company said the owner was a Supervalu franchisee who had been trading at a six figure loss for two years.

Pointing out that the maximum fine under the legislation was £50,000, the solicitor said: "A heavy fine would close the business and put 34 people out of work."

Magistrate Alan White said in coming to his decision, he had to strike a balance between the fact that this shop was neither "a Tesco nor a Sainsbury's" with the fact that parliament "attached great importance to adherence to this law".