Environmental health officers in Bradford have become involved in a dispute about Sunday trading laws.
Staff from Bradford Council were asked to investigate after a number of retailers complained about the long hours the Pride Asia supermarket was open on Sundays, reports the Telegraph & Argus.
They sent letters to the directors of the shop to inform them that opening hours would be monitored, but when two professionals in environmental health jobs visited the supermarket on a Sunday evening in December 2008, they found it was open an hour after it should have closed its doors.
At a hearing this week, magistrates heard from the environmental health officers that efforts to engage with the directors of the supermarket's parent company ISW Ltd about the issue had proved fruitless.
Nobody from ISW Ltd attended court, leaving magistrates to conclude that the case against the company had been proved.
However, as the range of punishments for breaching Sunday trading laws includes fines of up to £50,000, the case was adjourned until March 15th 2010 in order to give the directors the opportunity to defend themselves.
Shops bigger than 280 sq m are subject to restricted opening hours on Sundays, under the Sunday Trading Act 1994. However, smaller stores are able to select their own opening hours.
