The applicant operated a hot food takeaway caravan from a market place. She had no written licence, operating under an informal arrangement with the local authority. Her rights were terminated without notice.
Held: The decision was quashed. It had been made in breach of the rules of natural justice.The court rejected the submission that decisions such as Hook were to be distinguished because the principles enunciated in them were only to be applied where there is a statutory market or something akin to a statutory market. ‘Moreover, in the present case the Market Place at Crook is conceded to be a place to which the public has right of resort at all times. It is not a highway, but it is nevertheless a place to which the public has a right of access and on which the council have a discretion whether to allow street traders or not. During the day, the Market Place is in fact used for a market. When it is not being so used between prescribed hours it is used as a public car park for which no charge is made. It therefore seems to me that the local authority in granting or revoking licences to street traders to operate in the Market Place are in exactly the same situation as that envisaged in the Basildon case by all three members of the Court of Appeal. It seems to me that there is a public law element in the decisions of the council with regard to whom they license and whom they do not license to trade in the Market Place.’
Judges:
Taylor J
Citations:
[1985] 2 All ER 699
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Applied – Regina v Basildon District Council, ex parte Brown CA 1981
The status of a market was not relevant to the crucial question whether the stallholder’s licence had been validly terminated. The exercise of the powers by the local authority must be governed by the same principles whether in relation to a . .
Cited – Regina v Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council, ex parte Hook CA 1976
The applicant applied to have quashed the decision of the local council to exclude him from trading in the market and to revoke his right to have a stall.
Held: He succeeded on the grounds that the decision had been taken in breach of the . .
Cited by:
Cited – Hampshire County Council v Beer (T/A Hammer Trout Farm); Regina (Beer) v Hampshire Farmers’ Market Ltd CA 21-Jul-2003
The applicant had been refused a licence to operate within the farmer’s market. It sought judicial review of the rejection, but the respondent argued that it was a private company not susceptible to review.
Held: The decisions of the Farmers . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Local Government
Updated: 28 May 2022; Ref: scu.185801