A market trader has been fined for shouting too loudly
A Market trader in Amiens has been fined for shouting too loudly while trying to sell her products.
After nearly 25 years of selling fruit and vegetables at the Beffroi open market in Amiens, Emmanuelle Favrel was shocked when the police stopped at her stall and issued two fines. One fine for being 2 metres over her pitch and another fine for “upsetting the market through her cries about the price of her products”.
The fines totalled €120 and despite her customers wanting to start a petition, “Manue” decided to pay.
”I paid so I wouldn’t have any problems with my work, but I don’t understand why I was fined.
Worked on the market since 12 years old
“I have worked on the market since I was 12 years old and it was the first time that I have seen that. A market is generally a very noisy place where you need to attract customers. It’s a tough competition game.
“When politicians are campaigning at election time, they’re also hawking their wares. They don’t get fined for that.”
One stall holder told the newspaper Courier Picard that they believed the local authority wanted to change the nature of the market to make it more about luxury items.
Since the incident the town authorities have admitted as much, with assistant mayor Renaud Deschamps announcing that they want to reduce the number of stalls, increase the tariffs for sellers and bring in more upmarket goods.
