Market traders in Spalding claim to have lost a day’s takings after saying the district council’s Christmas lights switch-on forced them to abandon trading on Saturday.
Trader Fee Taylor has run a toy stall at Spalding for five years and said traders at the Hall Place end of town were told two weeks ago they wouldn’t be able to pitch on the day of the Christmas lights switch-on, despite the stall’s footprint not encroaching on the council’s area.
Fee said when traders told the South Holland District Council (SHDC) they would require compensation for the day’s loss on trading, a representative from the council came back to them and said it wanted to involve the traders and they could pitch, but would have to provide their own gazebos and be gone by 3pm.
“My husband’s recovering from surgery so it’s just me and my daughter on the stall at the moment,” Fee said.
“No way could we put up a three-metre by four-metre gazebo on our own.”
Fee said traders saw the council’s conditional offer as a way for them to avoid compensating the traders.
“This way it was as if we decided not to stand,” she said.
During the discussions, traders were also told they could move their pitches to the other side of the market place but Fee said there wasn’t room, stalls would double up and regular customers wouldn’t find them.
On Saturday, one regular trader pitched a gazebo but the rest missed out on December takings.
“This is our busiest time of year,” Fee said. “Spalding is dying as it is. All the person from the council had to do is speak to the traders but she just wanted us out the way.”
In response, an SHDC spokesman said: “The celebrations were held in the town centre for local residents and to support footfall for local traders because we value the fantastic job they do in attracting shoppers and visitors to the town.
“As part of our preparations for the event, we wrote to all traders informing them of the need to alter the layout of the market as a one-off. This was done in the interest of public safety.
“We altered the layout so that traders could pack up for the day when they were ready. It’s important that visitors and moving vehicles are kept separate. We’d like to thank everyone for attending and taking part in the event and making it a successful one.”
