£35,000 fine for owners who refused to close shop

THE owners of a card shop who refused to close during lockdown after arguing they sold the same items as WHSmith have been fined £35,000 by magistrates.

Alasdair Walker-Cox, 54, and wife Lydia, 50, were penalised for breaking coronavirus rules after they stayed open despite non-essential shops being told to shut.

They insisted they did nothing wrong because they sold essentials like newspapers, snacks and baking products and said they would rather go to prison than close.

But Worcestershire Regulatory Services hit them with seven separate fines after ordering them to close the doors of Grace Cards and Books in Droitwich.

The couple were first fined £1,000 last November and accumulated £20,000 in penalties for keeping their shop open.

Mr Walker-Cox went on trial at Kidderminster Magistrates Court to deny failing to comply with The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions ) Regulations.

But JPs found him guilty of the charges and slapped him with £5,000 fines for each breach – totalling a cost of £35,000.

District Judge Ian Strongman, said: “The products Mr WalkerCox had in his shop were not those of a food retailer but those of a confectioner.

“For example, if you sell a

Mars bar in a shop, you are not a food retailer.

“Again, if a shop happens to sell a few newspapers, it is not a newsagents.

“It’s a card and book shop who happen to sell a few newspapers.

“On this occasion, the local authority were right to serve the prohibitions notices.

“He brought this upon himself.”

The court heard the pair were served with numerous prohibition notices during lockdown two in November and lockdown three in February of this year.