A MAN has appeared in court in Barrow accused of acting as a pedlar.
Paul William Owens, of Enderby Gardens in Middlesbrough, is alleged to have committed the offence in Kendal on November 30.
The 35-year-old has been charged with acting as a pedlar without a certificate.
The Pedlars Act 1871 defines a pedlar as a person who trades by travelling on foot between town to town or visits another persons' house.
An application for a pedlar's certificate is made to a police Chief Constable.
Trading without a certificate or allowing somebody else to use it is an offence with a maximum penalty of a fine up to £200.
Local shopkeepers and retailers view peddling as undesirable and unfair competition and argue that pedlars are not restricted where they trade and can legitimately stand outside a shop and sell the same goods.
Owens will appear at South Cumbria Magistrates' Court on February 10.
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