Scottish beef case dropped

Charges against the first caterer to flout the beef-on-the-bone ban were dropped at Edinburgh's Appeal Court last week.

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 the Lord Advocate would not proceed with the case because the ban was to be lifted on 17 December.

He said the decision vindicated his stand against the two-year ban. However, 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, Harrogate.

Sutherland said that, as a large proportion of butchers and caterers had also ignored the beef-on-the-bone ban, "it is unfair only three of us were picked out and victimised by the authorities."

His legal costs totalled £30,000, although the court has allowed Sutherland to seek a small sum to compensate for the delay in dropping the case.