‘I had to pay for stall even though snow stopped me opening it’
A MARKET stallholder is furious after being charged to operate his stall in Ormskirk after he was unable to because of “extreme weather conditions”.
The stallholder, who wishes to remain anonymous, has been told that he is still expected to pay his stall fee after snow prevented him getting there on Thursday, March 1.
The man, who has been a stallholder for 27 years, said: “Not cancelling the market when it is snowing like this is outrageous. We shouldn’t be asked to work in cold outdoors.
“I couldn’t even pull my trailer outside of the drive because of the snow, it was trapped in. Even if I could, I probably wouldn’t drive on the roads in those conditions. It was dangerous.
“There are usually 50 traders there, and only seven turned up, but they still put the market on.
“Fees cost £28 per day and I am expected to pay that even though I couldn’t get to the market and the weather wasn’t suitable.
“I could understand I would have to pay the fee if I hadn’t turned up for my own reasons, but the weather was so bad. They’re taking us for fools.”
The man, who has a stall every Thursday and Saturday, also said that the weather meant that there were no customers in the area.
He added: “We have had weather conditions like this previously, and in those cases the market has been cancelled.
“It isn’t just me who feels frustrated about this, a lot of the other stallholders have said the same.”
A West Lancashire Borough Council spokesperson said: “Ormskirk Market is very rarely cancelled as the council tries to consider the needs of all traders, including those who sell perishable goods and could not keep those items to sell on another day.
“Conditions on Thursday, March 1 did not meet the usual criteria to cancel the market as, apart from the weather being very cold, there were no health and safety concerns.”
The stallholder also said snow was not the only weather condition to cause disruption.
He said: “This isn’t the only issue we have had. There is a rule where we can’t work on the stalls when the speed of the wind is more than 35mph.
“A few weeks ago, a council member brought out the wind meter and he was asked how fast the wind was blowing by stallholders and he said he didn’t know as the machine had no batteries in. It is absolutely ridiculous.”
The council spokesperson said: “The council has a wind speed monitoring tool which is used to test for prevailing on-site wind speeds.
“However, it is only used as an aid to assist market staff, we would also look for other visible signs of excessive winds speeds which may present a health and safety hazard.”
They confirmed that the wind meter had not been working on the occasion referred to, but water was found in the battery compartment. It is now functioning normally.