THIS newspaper stands solidly behind the traders at Oxford’s Covered Market because it is one of the city’s treasures.

However, on the information available yesterday, it is hard to see the traders’ point after the market was not allowed to open on Sunday – the first since permanent seven-day trading was confirmed – because there were not enough fire marshalls.

John Partington, a director of the traders’ association, is right when he describes the closure as a “debacle and complete farce”.

No matter how the agreement was reached for traders to supply 16 people to take over responsibility as fire marshalls from the city council, the fact is there were not enough individuals to fulfil this vital role.

If the traders agreed to cover this role they have to ensure there are enough people. Every day.

How the council came to decide Sunday was the day to do a spot check was unclear yesterday but that is a side issue.

If there had been an emergency resulting in injury or death and the council suspected there were not enough marshalls it would have been a dereliction of its duty to protect the public.

We hope both sides sort this out and it is only a hiccup in the ultimately successful Sunday trading scheme at the market.