Leeds City Council is taking a Kirkgate Market trader to court in a row over him hanging curtains, it has been revealed.
Narinder Sharma, 68, sells curtains and pillows in the market and is being prosecuted for hanging his products on a wall by the side of his city-centre stall. The case is listed at Kirklees Magistrates Court in Huddersfield on Monday January 16, next year.
The council has told traders to stop hanging products outside of their allotted space, informing them they would risk prosecution over the encroachment. The local authority has claimed the majority of traders were supportive of the motion and even encouraged the council to take action against those who continued to "unfairly" encroach.
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The council stated it's only prosecuting Narinder as a "last resort". The 68-year-old, who’s had a stall there since 1983, claims he had a spoken agreement with the management that he could hang curtains and pillows on a wall beside his stall.
Narinder said: “They’re playing a very clever game. They moved me from unit one to unit two and they told me that it was like for like and it would be the same rent. They told me I could use the side of the wall and now they’re telling me it’s not part of the stall. They allowed me to do it when I moved but they didn’t put it on my plan.
“I feel they’re trying to get rid of the old traders and make it hard for us. They moved me from unit one and now there’s someone else there paying more than I did.”
The grandfather-of-three runs the stall with his wife Rajni, 59, and they employ one other person. Narinder’s birthday is the day after the court case and Rajni’s is the following day.
Narinder says the impending court case has been weighing heavily on his mind. The 68-year-old said: “It’s stressful, a lot of stress, I’m going to fight it. Health wise it’s affecting me when I’m laying down or not working, my mind is always on this court case."
If Narinder loses he will have to pay a hefty fine and cover the court costs. If he wins, he says he will be making a counter claim against the council for the cost and the stress it has caused him.
A Leeds City Council spokesman said: “Encroachment from some traders within the market isn’t fair on the majority of traders that adhere to the rules. Traders who are compliant with the rules have complained about this unfairness and wanted action taking to stop it.
“Traders can have a yellow line space which sits outside their unit boundary and they pay a licence fee to then sell stock from this area. The trader identified in your report does not have a licence in place and is not willing to pay for it. Stock has also been left in the aisles and entrance ways which looks unsightly to our customers and their fellow traders.
“When authorising yellow line space we also have to consider customer access routes so sometimes the space a trader would like cannot be allowed but where it is possible we do so and they are authorised by way of a licence.“
“We have dealt with 18 traders throughout the market that were encroaching and apart from two traders they have all sought to comply either by pulling in their stock in or agreeing to pay for the space via a yellow line licence.
“Taking a trader to court is always a last resort and is only reached after multiple attempts at engaging with the relevant trader, but we will always operate fairly and take action where appropriate. The aisles are the landlords property and traders cannot put stock there without permission.”
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