Beef ban charges dropped

Charges against the first caterer to flout the beef-on-the-bone ban were dropped at Edinburgh's Appeal Court yesterday (7 December).

Jim Sutherland, who runs the Lodge hotel in Carfraemill, Scotland, said his hearing was held up from 10.30am until 2pm, when it was announced that the Lord Advocate would not proceed with the case because the ban was to be lifted on 17 December.

Sutherland said the decision vindicated his stand against the two-year ban.

But charges remain in force against his English counterparts, Alan Coomber, of the Bell Inn at Rye, East Sussex, and Chris Bowman of the Drovers in Bishop Thornton, North Yorkshire.

Sutherland added that, because a large number of butchers and caterers had also ignored the beef-on-the-bone ban it was unfair that only three people were "picked out and victimised by the authorities".

His total costs have amounted to £30,000, Sutherland said.