Landlord Luigi in a measure of trouble
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Your support makes all the difference.It is fair to say that "make mine a 47.2ml" doesn't have quite the same ring to it, but a Cambridgeshire pub landlord may become the first retailer in Britain to be prosecuted for refusing to make his measures metric. What's more, he is an Italian.
Luigi Pragliola, 50, who runs the Gladstone Arms, in Peterborough, is refusing to abide by European Union metrication laws which came into force in the UK in October.
The laws say that gin, rum, whisky and vodka must be sold in 25-millilitre measures. But Mr Pragliola's optics still contain 1/6-gill measures - which work out at 23.6ml.
Beer and lager may still be sold in pints, although shandy, classified as a soft drink, must be sold in metric measures.
The landlord has already been issued with a formal caution by Cambridgeshire County Council and trading standards officers are expected to visit him again soon. But Mr Pragliola, who has lived in Britain for 42 years, says he will pay a fine, which could be up to pounds 5,000, before he abides by the metrication rules.
"I'm being foolish really," said Mr Pragliola. "From a business point of view, I should have gone metric, put up my prices and said nothing.
"But some of us have principles. Why should we do what Europe says? Only Britain applies the letter of the law like this. Other countries just ignore it."
Cambridgeshire's trading standards department, which says it has adopted a "commonsense" approach to the introduction of metrication, said the case may have to go to court.
"This may come down to us deciding whether to allow someone to break the law or whether to prosecute," said a spokesman. The department would "think very carefully and discuss the issue at the highest level" before making a decision. "We are still hopeful that there can be a negotiated solution," he added.
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