MARKET traders in Otley are grudgingly bending to European regulations by giving up Imperial weights - but say

seasoned shoppers will be harder to

convince.

As a market greengrocer from Sunderland makes history as the first 'metric martyr' to be prosecuted for dealing in pounds and ounces, those who refuse to work in metric fear they may suffer the same fate.

Conscientious traders who regularly visit Otley have already shifted their weights to grams and kilograms, but say they are still facing personal expense, greater inconvenience, and a battle to

convince customers about the change.

Greengrocer Alan Murphy, who has run a stall on Kirkgate for 20 years, said 99 per cent of his customers still insist of buying in pounds and ounces. He said: "They are refusing to convert. They will ask for two kilograms of apples, then ask for half a pound of carrots."

He said not just the older generation, but also young people, are too used to pounds and ounces to suddenly change.

The stall has given prices with metric weights since the start of the year,

alongside the price per pound.

The change to metric cost Mr Murphy £500 to convert his electric scales, but now finds he has to go through a complicated equation to work out metric prices for Imperial weights.

But toffee seller Paul Bolland found he had to abandon Imperial altogether, and hope the customer's sweet tooth would overcome the reluctance to accept a smaller 100g instead of the traditional quarter of sweets. He said: "I had to keeping telling people and they would still ask for a quarter. I lost my voice saying it."

The cost of conversion was no more than a few weights - but Mr Bolland believes the Government should pay the £1,100 for the conversion of the large-scale mechanical scales at his factory in Castleford. He said: "It's mainly just an inconvenience on the stall, but why should we have to pay? I think if the Government wants us to do this, they should be paying for it. I don't know why we have to change. We're an island, it's not as if we're on a border with Holland or France."

West Yorkshire Trading Standards officer Paul Cooper said officers are working with traders around region to help bring in metric weights.

He said: "We want to work with them towards metrication, rather than take a heavy-handed approach."

He said the service had not inspected every market, and was trying to help traders manage the change as they came to them.