Phil’s Court Report: A Christmas Carol 2009?

A Derbyshire bookshop owner is facing what a judge has described as a lengthy jail sentence for breaching health and safety regulations involving his staff and customers.

Conditions at Scarthin Books of Cromford were described as Dickensian and worse than a Victorian workhouse.

Derby Crown Court heard how the eccentric owner Dr David Mitchell, 65, made staff risk their lives by climbing into a tiny cupboard above rickety ancient stairs to remove cardboard boxes for recycling and then haul them for miles across ice and snow to fill up his van.

One shop manager, Wendy Cooper, 59, broke her fingernail and suffered a fractured eyelash in the trek across the wilds of Derbyshire. Other staff suffered similar injuries.

Mrs Cooper told the court: “How can a woman of my age and in my condition expect to lump bloody great sheets of cardboard across treacherous roads and fields in the snow. It’s not on. But we’ve all suffered intolerable hardship and we are often made to carry out tasks which are in blatant breach of health and safety regulations.”

The court also heard how Mr Mitchell would walk through a shop full of customers wearing a cap and nightgown counting money and complaining that people weren’t spending enough. Customers were also subjected to constant obnoxious smells although, in his defence, Mr Mitchell said this was caused by cabbage cooking in the café.

John Pidcock, 84, the shop’s expert on rare books said he was often forced to work. On one occasion, he told the court, he fell through a window when he lost his balance while carrying boxes of books during gale force winds.

Guy Cooper, a manager at the bookshop for 119 years, said although Mr Mitchell allowed staff a day off at Christmas he made them work until midnight even though there were no customers after 6pm. “We mostly had to vacuum, polish and feed Dave’s chickens,” said Mr Cooper.

Defence barrister Barrel O’Laffs said his client, who pleaded guilty to 31 breaches of the Safety At Work Act, had not been able to make any improvements to the shop since buying it in 1974 because all profits went towards restoring a ruin in his garden.

“I know I didn’t have planning permission but it’ll look very nice when it’s finished. I know a very good builder who only charges me £5,000 a day.” said Mr Mitchell.

The judge Mr Justice Bertrams bailed Mr Mitchell to appear in court again in the New Year and told him “Unless you start looking after your staff, valuing them, making them warm and paying them a living wage you’ll go to jail for a very long time. It is clear throughout this case that you have also spent far too much money buying second hand books. This must cease.”

Mr Mitchell said he would try but the current economic climate meant he had difficulty feeding his own family because he had to maintain the shop’s stock.

Mr Mitchell admitted outside the court he had promised the staff a very large Christmas bonus for looking after the business while he went on sabbatical leave. “Unfortunately, it won’t be as big as they think” he said. “Oh, and a Merry Christmas to all my customers.”