Barnard Castle Farmers Market would like to apologise for the unfortunate incident that occurred on Saturday regarding Helen Goodman MP.
If we had been forewarned of Mrs Goodman’s wishes we would have been able to explain why we cannot have tractors driven in front of the stalls after opening time due to the road being officially closed to traffic for the safety of the public.
We take the safety of our customers and stallholders as being our first priority and do everything we can to mitigate this. To help drivers we place a road closed sign at the top of the market stating that the road is closed to traffic as it is for the duration of the Farmers Market. It would have been wonderful to have had a tractor, especially such a very large and clean one, visit us on a Farmers Market day but we would have needed plenty of warning. We would have needed to make sufficient room for it so as not to cause an obstruction to emergency services who need access at all times. It must also be said that we try to keep out of politics and would have been reluctant to host any political party at this time wanting to forward its views on the imminent in/out vote.
I hope that Mrs Goodman is able to join us on a future market so that we can tempt her with some of the delicious produce we have on offer, some indeed produced by her constituents. I would only ask that she brings nothing larger than a shopping bag next time.
Yours respectfully.
William Ramsbottom.
Market manager