A Perth antiques dealer has kept his licence after co-operating fully with the authorities.
Mark Fairbrother, of Love’s Auction House, had faced having his secondhand dealer’s licence suspended in a long-running row with Perth and Kinross Council.
A request for the suspension was made in July by Willie Gibson, Perth and Kinross Council licensing enforcement officer. He had been concerned Mr Fairbrother was initially operating without a licence and that the stallholders within Love’s were similarly unlicensed.
Mr Fairbrother (48), from St Madoes, said it was merely confusion over the legislation which caused the breach.
The matter called before the licensing committee last month and was put off until Thursday for further discussions.
Mr Fairbrother was not present but Mr Gibson reported: ”He is co-operating fully and the matter has been resolved. I have discussed the circumstances with our legal manager and she is happy.
”There are now 15 licensed individuals within the premises and he is doing all he is being asked to do, so we are working well together.”
Love’s was formerly a traditional auction house but now runs as a collection of stalls under the same roof, selling antiques and second hand goods.
After the decision, Mr Fairbrother said: ”This has been a very long and stressful situation for us at a time when we most need support from our council as we are setting up a new city centre enterprise.”
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”There was a real difficulty on our part to hand over the names and addresses of our stallholders to Perth Council due to data protection.
”In the first instance, the licensing officers needed to understand my position, but they just wanted to up the ante rather than provide me with the necessary documents which would allow me to circumvent the Data Protection Act.”
He added: ”There is a real inconsistency across Scotland as to how councils interpret the Civic Government Act 1982. We have 27 traders within Love’s centre. Some of them are charities or, indeed, are raising funds for churches or Duke of Edinburgh Awards. Others are young businesses, or pensioners trying to supplement their income.
”If they were trading at an antique centre within Dundee, Fife or Stirling they would be treated as vendors and would not need a licence. Only the centre itself would need a licence. However, all the traders here have had to give Perth and Kinross Council a combined sum of £6,000, and this will be repeated every three years.
”My question to the council is why they have not seen that we are a thriving tourist attraction bringing over 2,000 people into Perth centre every week? We are bucking the trend of struggling city centre businesses and should be thanked for what we are doing.
”We are supporting small businesses, attracting tourists and repairing a much-neglected, listed building within the heart of Perth.”
One prominent critic of the centre was city centre councillor Peter Barrett, who urged the committee to ”throw the book” at Mr Fairbrother.
Mr Fairbrother said that rebuke was ”undeserved”, adding: ”I now invite him to come and see for himself the excellent work produced by the young businesses at our thriving antique and art centre.”
Love’s hit the headlines earlier this year when a haul of deadly weapons was stolen from one stall, which was operating without proper permission.
The thieves smashed in a door panel and made off with swords, daggers, air rifles and cut-throat razors.