A businessman and his son have been found guilty of flouting planning rules by running an indoor market without permission in Bradford.

A jury at Bradford Crown Court yesterday found Mohammed Saeed, 55, and his 27-year-old son Khalid Saeed, guilty of contravening two Stop Notices from Bradford Council, designed to stop them operating the Tradex market in Lidget Green.

They showed no emotion as the guilty verdicts were returned after a nine-day trial. They were due to be sentenced today.

Judge John Potter said the law dictated that a financial penalty was the only sentence the court could impose, but he needed more information for him to consider the appropriate level of fine.

John Barrett, prosecuting for the Council, also applied for £38,000 costs. He said if the action continued, his advice was to secure a civil injunction at the High Court against the defendants. Mohammed Saeed’s barrister, Simon Pickles, said there was no intention to resume the operation.

Timothy Bass, for Khalid Saeed, said his client was a barrister but had put his career on hold to help his father in his business. But he had no income, was overdrawn and his only asset was a Y-registered Volkswagen Polo.

During the trial, Mr Barrett had told the jury the father and son had a “cynical disregard for planning control” in changing their business use from storage to retail at their Beckside Business Park premises in Beckside Road, owned by the Italian Furniture Company, which was operated by Mohammed Saeed.

The company had purchased the premises in 2010 for £1,350,000 and the premises were operated by DP Furniture Franchising, trading as Tradex, another Mohammed Saeed company. Khalid Saeed styled himself as a manager of Tradex.

Council officers recommended that permission be refused because it was clear the Tradex operation was affecting markets in the city. There were also concerns about highway safety.

The Council issued in June, 2012, an Enforcement Notice and a Stop Notice, requiring the company to “cease the unauthorised use” of the site for retail purposes. The Stop Notice was the first issued by Bradford Council in 20 years.

Mr Barrett said the defendants’ motivation was “the very significant financial advantage to them, and is the rental collected from the stallholders in these premises. The longer that the activity can continue unmolested and unhindered by the Local Planning Authority, the more money is made by these defendants.”

The defendants, both of Moor Farm, Stainbeck Lane, Leeds, had pleaded not guilty. Mohammed Saeed had told the jury Tradex was operating a bazaar for tradespeople, and not a market, and was covered by existing planning use.

Khalid Saeed did not give evidence.