IN THE great pantheon of heroes, street market traders tend not to figure
prominently, but Steve Thoburn hasn’t let this hold him back.
In July, police and trading standards officers swooped on his stall in
Sunderland in north-east England. They seized the scales he was using to weigh
his wares, and he now faces criminal charges. His dastardly deed? Selling
vegetables in pounds and ounces instead of in kilograms and grams.
The plight of the “metric martyr” is fast becoming a cause
célèbre in Britain. Tabloid newspapers have seized on his
prosecution as an example of bureaucracy gone…
