Size Matters

The land that can't keep bugs out of its hospitals, still pays attention to glass sizes in its pubs:

It never crossed Nic Davison's mind that selling Polish beer, in a Polish restaurant, in Polish glasses was a crime.

He reckoned without trading standards officers.

They have threatened the restaurant owner with a court appearance and £2,000 fine for serving his beer in litre rather than pint glasses.

It is an astonishing reversal after years of attempts across the country to nab traders who use imperial weights and measures rather than metric ones.

And it has even led to Mr Davison winning the support of the Metric Martyrs Movement, which says traders should be allowed to sell goods in whatever weight measurements they choose.

....last week trading standards officers from Doncaster council served an infringement notice on the business - because it was serving drinks in the wrong size of glass.

This was because the Polish brewer providing Zywiec beer also supplied the glasses, which come in 'small' and 'large' - 0.3 and 0.5 litre sizes.

But under 1988 Weights and Measures legislation, draught beer and cider may only be sold in pints. Serving them in litres, or fractions of litres, is illegal - even through half a litre is almost the same as one pint.

....The notice came despite there being no complaints from customers.