THE widow of Metric Martyr Steve Thoburn has hailed the European Commission's decision not to force Britain to give up the mile and the pint.

The Commission has said Britain can keep Imperial weight measures and no longer has to adopt the metric system used on the continent, by 2009.

Mr Thoburn, a Sunderland greengrocer, was convicted in 2001 of selling bananas by the pound in a prosecution brought by Sunderland City Council.

He died four years ago, and now his family and supporters are calling for him to be given a posthumous pardon - a petition has attraction 20,000 signatures so far.

His widow, Leigh, said: "Finally, we are not far away from the complete vindication of Steve's stand.

"All that remains is to complete the removal of his conviction and the clearing of his name."

EU Industry Commissioner Gunter Verheugen said it was time to end a "pointless battle''.

He said that, as far as the Commission was concerned, market traders and small local shopkeepers did not even have to display metric units on their premises - and never had to - and said Metric Martyr prosecutions were "very much a local issue which has nothing to do with the European Union".

He said: "Things such as pints and miles and feet and inches are what makes us love Britain. We don't want to get rid of them. The idea that you could not go for a pint in a pub in Britain is not acceptable.

But he added that another consideration was trade between the EU and the US, a massive trading partner, which still uses imperial measures.

Neil Herron, Mr Thoburn's friend and director of the Metric Martyr campaign, welcomed the move but said its timing could be connected with the controversy over the signing of the EU Treaty - which, the critics say, is in effect a constitution that the Government had pledged to hold a referendum on.

Mr Herron said: "At last someone has exercised an ounce of common sense, but the disgrace is that it has had to come from Brussels and not Westminster.

"We must immediately have a moratorium declared on any further prosecutions and a statement from the Government that it is going to repeal the legislation.''