Traders demand fair deal (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Traders demand fair deal

MARKET traders are demanding a better deal, after it was revealed that the council is profiting when stallholders are too sick to work.

A trader who is suffering from inoperable cancer was devastated to learn that he must pay for his pitch when he is too ill to run it, even if the council rents out the stall to someone else.

"It is shocking," said the man, who did not want to be named.

"I have worked Salisbury market for 11 years.

"But when I got ill, they said I would still have to pay each week.

"That's okay if my partner can run the stall, but a lot of the time I need her with me for support and we just can't get there.

"Then council can rent it out to a casual trader and we still have to pay a big bill when we go back, even though they have already got the money for it."

Since he was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus more than two years ago, the trader has undergone debilitating chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment and doctors say there is little they can do to reduce the tumour.

"It seems so unfair that we don't get any sick leave at Salisbury, especially when it's something like cancer," he said.

"At Lymington market, they don't charge you if you have a doctor's note and at other markets you don't have to pay if they rent out your pitch.

"In Salisbury, the council seems to win both ways and we're left with the bill."

Salisbury Market Traders Association is pressing for sick pay and better rights for stallholders and said that, after having put up rent by almost 24 per cent over the past three years, it is time the council gave them something back.

"The increases have been well over inflation but we have been forced to accept them," said secretary Paul Beirne.

"Because of the way the pitches are worked out, Salisbury is one of the more expensive markets.

"But the council won't give us any leeway.

"While the trader is absent, the council can rent out his pitch, gaining double revenue through his misfortune.

"We feel we are paying out more and more and getting nothing in return.

"Something needs to be done before traders are deterred from coming to Salisbury altogether."

But portfolio holder responsible for the market, Cllr John Cole-Morgan said the current terms were reached in agreement with the market traders.

"We feel we have a very fair arrangement that protects the interests of the market traders while giving us an open market," he said.

"If people run shops or other businesses they are still liable for the costs when they cannot work.

"There is no guarantee that we will find someone to run the pitch when they do not work especially at this time of year.

"All traders get a certain number of weeks off each year if they give two weeks notice.

"When you look at the package the traders get, rents in Salisbury are comparably very favourable."

A spokeswoman for the council added that while market traders are liable to pay rent for 48 weeks of the year, they can nominate someone else to run their pitch if they are absent.

She said renting out other stallholders' pitches to casual traders only happens occasionally.

See also page 70