Burger man fined after row over Muslims turned sour

A BURGER van owner who refused to serve a sausage sandwich to a man who argued against his anti-islamic views has been fined.

Retired merchant seaman Jim Gardiner, 73, who runs the Ship’s Gallery burger van on an industrial estate near the M6 in Cumbria, began chatting to Piers Palmer, 46, a landscape gardener.

Mr Palmer had already ordered his sausage sandwich when the conversation turned to religion and Mr Gardiner’s views on “Muslims and Pakistanis”.

It was quickly clear the two men had opposing opinions and when Gardiner

‘I’d only asked for a sausage sandwich. I didn’t know how we’d got on to Muslims’

produced some laminated anti-islamic literature from beneath his sauce bottles, Mr Palmer refused to read them and later contacted the police after Gardiner refused to serve him.

Mr Palmer told the court: “He said it was the Muslims and Pakistanis in Manchester and London who were the real problem, and not people like us. I was completely gobsmacked because I’d only asked for a sausage sandwich. I didn’t know how we’d got on to Muslims and Pakistanis.”

At Carlisle magistrates’ court, Gardiner, of Penrith, denied a racially aggravated public order offence but was convicted. He was fined £127, with a £30 victim surcharge, £620 costs, and ordered to pay £50 compensation.