A Sunderland greengrocer, Steven Thoburn, has taken a conviction for selling a pound of bananas to the grave.

It’s all part of the ridiculous European Union rules that stipulate that the UK is no longer allowed to sell produce only in imperial measures.

However:

The Metric Martyrs campaign group and the Conservatives say a 2009 deadline for metric measures to replace imperial measures has been shelved.

Tory industry spokesman, Giles Chichester, said he had EU confirmation that the marking of goods in metric and imperial could “continue indefinitely”.

A spokesman for the Metric Martyrs group called it a “monumental victory”.

Tory MEP Mr Chichester said he had received the confirmation from the European Commission’s Industry Commissioner Gunther Verheugen.

Mr Chichester said following lobbying by the Tories, the commissioner agreed it was good for British and European industry to keep imperial measurements as it would make it easier for firms to sell to the US.

Makes sense to me. I’ve nothing against either system of measurement, but there are still practical (and not just sentimental) reasons why the imperial system should be allowed to continue.