Every day we come into contact with people who can either help or hinder us. As an observer of people, it fascinates me how often someone acts in such a foolish and unnecessary way as if deliberately trying to make the other respond against their own interests. For example in the Skye Bridge cases, I still recall one of the protestors angrily telling me that, as Procurator Fiscal, I was a civil servant [true] and thus had to do what he told me to do and that I had to justify myself to him! Not only was he wrong about the Law relating to his protest and my position as PF, what on earth did he hope to gain by such an approach?

The other day I was about to go into court when I noticed that my client, who was about to be sentenced for cannabis possession and had claimed that he had learnt his lesson and was never going to touch the drug again, was wearing a large earring. That would have been unremarkable had it not been in the very obvious shape of a cannabis leaf. Similarly, I wondered if anything at all was going through the head of the individual appearing in the Means court for not paying his fine, who stood before the Sheriff claiming he had no money while wearing large quantities of gold jewellery round his neck and on his fingers worth hundreds of pounds. Did they really intend to give the impression that they were waving two fingers at the Sheriff and how did they believe it would be of help to their cause?

I am also stunned by those who think the best way to get help is to be abusive to Court staff. Throughout my professional career, I have made it well known that anyone being abusive to my staff was to be held to be abusive not to them but to me. Very few were abusive twice. Is it beyond the grasp of some that we are all human beings and are likely to respond more favourably if not being abused or treated with contempt at the time? Of course we can all get frustrated and angry at times, but that is neither a valid reason nor a clever ploy to take it out on the individual trying his or her best to deal with your problem.

By asserting this, I do not suggest that we allow ourselves to be treated badly and walked over. We too have rights and are entitled to be treated with respect and to be helped when needed. However there remains a large gap between being firm and being offensive.

Incidentally, it has been my experience that the staff in Fiscal’s and Sheriff Clerk’s offices throughout Highlands and Islands have, almost without exception, been underpaid and undervalued individuals who try whenever possible to help those with whom they are dealing. We are exceedingly fortunate in having them and there is no excuse for treating them badly. They deserve better from their employers and the public. Finally on this, my present “staff” is my wife. Anyone being abusive to her will be taken personally!

Turning to another topic, I was in a shop the other day when there was a “discussion” about the price of an item. The display made it quite clear that the price was £x and the shop was refusing to sell it at that price, claiming it was a mistake. What are your rights in such a situation? Put simply, the customer cannot insist that the item be sold to him at the marked price. This is because the civil law on contract, strange as it may seem, is that the shop is not offering to sell it to you at that price, but instead is inviting you to offer to buy it at that price. As you are doing the offering, the shop is entitled to say no. However the Trades Description Act makes it a criminal offence for the shop to have a display saying it costs one price and then demand a higher price to sell it to you. Most businesses would rather not be taken through the criminal court with the resultant bad publicity involved and are likely to sell it to you at the displayed price and then correct the display. Offences under this Act are usually investigated by the council’s trading standards officers. Next time it happens to you, simply ask for the manager and suggest he reads the Trades Description Act 1968, Section 1 before he speaks to you. You will be amazed how that focuses his mind.