Butcher's baps could get the chop

David Price is accused of breaking the terms of his lease by selling the hot sandwiches. Now Wolverhampton Homes say they have been forced to order court action after he ignored demands to stop trading them. Council leader Neville Patten said taxpayers could now be landed with a £25,000 bill.

This would be if the council lost the case, which he claims the cash-strapped authority cannot afford.

Mr Price said he would fight to continue selling his popular services at his shop in Ashmore Park to protect his livelihood.

"It's hard for everybody trading at the moment and I think it's a totally crazy situation I am in now," he said.

"It seems mad that the leader of the council is supporting me but the council aren't listening. Everybody is trying to make a living. I am selling sandwiches which aren't being sold by anybody else on the precinct.

"They are also telling me I can't sell pastry products and cottage pies, which is what you will find the majority of other butchers selling all over the country.

"I have no other alternative to defend myself because I am protecting my livelihood and that of my staff."

The court case has been scheduled for April.

But Councillor Patten said today that the situation "ludicrous".

"The fact is that nearly all butchers across the country sell these sorts of things and so are we going to stop all of them?"

Helen Bellingham, head of homes sales and leases for Wolverhampton Homes, said: "This is against the user clause in his lease and fellow traders have complained."

Residents put forward a 2,000-name petition and dozens of letters in support of Mr Price when council chiefs first told him to stop selling the baps in 2006.