Bookseller loses fight to trade on Broadway

nlnews@archant.co.uk
23 March 2005

BOOKSELLER Jerry Ingram has lost his long-running battle to run a stall on Crouch End Broadway.

Mr Ingram, who had a stall outside what is now Tesco for six years, was ordered to stop trading last October when Haringey Council licensing officers seized his stock for trading without a licence.

Mr Ingram hoped a legal loophole would persuade the courts to find him not guilty of trading without a street licence, but Highgate magistrates dismissed his defence on Tuesday.

The court heard how licensing enforcement officer Kelly Peck swooped on October 23 after seeing Mr Ingram selling books to passers-by in Crouch End.

Mr Peck told magistrates: "Mr Ingram has never held a street trading licence with Haringey. He had never shown me any licence allowing him to trade at that location."

Mr Ingram's barrister, Danny Kersh, told the court that Mr Ingram could not be prosecuted under the London Local Authority Act (1994) as the law only applied to streets which are licensed.

Crouch End Broadway is designated as an unlicensed street, meaning it would have been impossible for Mr Ingram to secure a licence.

Mr Kersh told the court: "There's no dispute that he was trading without a street licence, what is in dispute is whether or not he fell foul of this Act.

"This Act doesn't apply. He can't be prosecuted under this Act for street trading in a street where you can't get a street trading licence."

Magistrates found Mr Ingram guilty of trading without a licence.

He was ordered to pay £400 of Haringey Council's £850 legal costs, but magistrates ruled that his books should be returned to him.

He avoided a further fine and was instead given a 12-month conditional discharge.

Outside the court, Mr Ingram said he was considering an appeal. He said:

"I have effectively lost my income. I have never drawn benefits in my life but I will have to now. I'm willing to work but they won't let me.

"We might appeal. It's a huge waste of taxpayers' money to go through this to get rid of something that people want to be there."

He added that he was grateful to the magistrates for allowing him to keep his books, worth around £1,500.