Shopkeepers facing penalties for open display of lad mags

RETAILERS could be penalised if they fail to display magazines with sexual content above children’s eye level and away from comics, MSPs have warned.

Anti-pornography campaigners have called for publications such as Nuts, Loaded and FHM to be screen-sleeved.

Research commissioned by Holyrood’s public petitions committee in December 2010 found that “a lot of magazines are being displayed at heights of between 1m and 1.5m, in full view, with no attempt being made to cover them up”.

Committee member and former Conservative leader Annabel Goldie said: “I suggest that we say to the federation that we, as a committee, have no desire to increase bureaucracy for small shopkeepers and retailers, but if the voluntary code cannot be complied with, a legislative alternative is going to have to be vigorously investigated.”