The council run Cross Green Market car boot sale, (referred to by many as the ‘Pontefract Lane’ car boot) has been closed. This was apparently due to the ‘high levels of illegal and counterfeit goods on sale’. The council claims that attempts had been made to tackle the problem but they had ultimately failed, leaving closure as the only viable option.

The news for the closure was originally announced in late January, but we decided to pick up the story this week because;

• Many people in and around Leeds may not be aware of the closure, especially those with are selling for the first time this summer.
• It raises some interesting questions about how the council may behave towards piracy and counterfeiting at privately run car boot sales

So, first things first, don’t visit Cross Green market on a Sunday morning – no-one will be there! Do not despair though as there are plenty of car boot sales in and around Leeds, a full list of which can be found Here. From my experience, I would recommend that you check out the sales at Yeadon, Halifax, Pannal and Bingley as they are well established and have good turnouts throughout summer.

It isn’t so much the closure of one car boot sale (and a bad one at that) which concerns me, but rather the council’s attitude towards the whole affair. They freely admit that the combined effort of the council, police and trading standards wasn’t enough to get the problem under control. What chance, then, do private car boot sale organisers have?

What the Council also seem to have overlooked is the counterfeiters will simply operate at another car boot sale instead. This seems incredibly ignorant to me as they are simply transferring the problem to someone else instead of dealing with the root cause. It also makes me wonder whether similar action will be taken against other sales in the area in the future, should they also ‘fail’ to get the problem under control.

I am sure that the  car boot sale generated considerable revenue for the council, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see it reopen in a few months time, especially as the public spending freeze takes hold.

What do you think – Should the Cross Green car boot have been closed? Should it reopen?