£1,000 fine for shop’s lockdown rules defiance
BOOKSHOP STAFF: PANDEMIC PART OF ‘NEW WORLD ORDER’
A BOOKSHOP and tearoom using the Magna Carta as a reason to stay open despite lockdown restrictions has been fined £1,000.
Gedling Borough Council confirmed it had taken the action.
Pictures seen by the Post showed customers dining in the tearoom at Christian bookshop The Mustard Seed in Main Road, Gedling, in defiance of the lockdown.
Councillor John Clarke, leader of the council, said: “Following a visit to the Mustard Seed business, our environmental health team have issued a £1,000 fixed penalty notice due to a failure to comply with the regulations set out by Government that non-essential businesses must close until December 3.
“The proprietor of the business has been told that they must now close the operation or face further enforcement action.”
The rules say food venues are only allowed to open to serve takeaway good – and that businesses which break the rules can be fined.
But the bosses of the venue claim the current measures are “unlawful”.
On the shop’s front window there are two signs.
One quotes Article 61 of the Magna Carta and says that the Government is not there to “rule us”.
The notice claims any business has the right to “enter into lawful dissent” if it feels it is being governed “unjustly”.
It reads: “As the business owners, we are exercising our rights to earn a living.
“Under Article 61 of Magna Carta 1215, we have a right to enter into lawful dissent if we feel we are being governed unjustly.
“Contrary to common belief, our sovereign and her government are only there to govern us and not rule us.
“This must be done within the constraint of our common law and the freedoms asserted to us by such law.
“Nothing can become law in this country if it falls outside of this simple constraint.
“I am not under any obligation, nor will I, answer any questions or give you any details.
“I am a living person and statutory regulations only apply with my consent.”
The notice adds that the business owner will “conditionally accept your demands” if a number of factors are met by authorities.
This includes proving whether Covid-19 is “proven to exist”, proof is provided of which law prohibits the premises from operating, proof of contract “where I agree to participate in these guidelines” and evidence that remaining open “constitutes a Public Health Threat”.
A separate notice claims that anybody who enters the premises to take enforcement action “enters here as trespassers” under common law.
When The Mustard Seed was visited by the Post, a spokesperson for the business did not wish to provide an official statement.
However, she said that she was “standing up for common law” in the country and claimed that the pandemic was part of the “new world order”.
She added that “someone has got to stand up and say something” and argued that the current lockdown restrictions were “unlawful”.
But a spokesperson for Gedling Borough Council says that the authority was left with “no choice” but to take action.
We have no choice but to take further enforcement action
Gedling Borough Council