A young shopkeeper yesterday warned that taking cheques for goods could leave businesses in the red.

For it took six months and a court case for Marie Beach Tucker to get $82 for two leotards bought in her sportswear shop after a customer put a stop on a cheque.

Ms Tucker said: "If someone does that, the business will only get a refer to drawer slip with the cheque -- you either accept that or go to court.

"I presented my own case in court, but if I had had to pay a lawyer it would have cost me a lot of money.

"But it was a question of principle and I had to make a stand on that.'' The battle began last December when a woman bought two leotards from Ms Tucker's shop, Marie's Energy Express Boutique, then in Washington Lane, but now in Washington Street, on a Saturday afternoon.

But the woman called the shop on Monday and said she had stopped the cheque because she was sure she had left the items in the shop.

Ms Tucker said the woman argued she was not liable for the cost of the goods because she did not leave the shop with them.

But the bag containing the goods could not be found on Monday morning, casting suspicion on the two teenage Saturday assistants.

But Ms Tucker said she had discussed the situation with the two girls and was satisfied that the woman had left with the bag.

She added: "It wasn't our fault -- a lot of people I spoke to had never heard of anything like this before. I have lost things before and never thought anything about it. You can't hold someone else responsible.'' But the woman refused to change her mind and Ms Tucker eventually claimed for the cash in Magistrate's Court, winning a total of $112 in compensation and costs after a hearing in May.

Ms Tucker said: "The magistrate said a transaction had occurred when she accepted the price and wrote a cheque -- that was for him the end of it.

"And he noted that the woman did not come directly back to the shop to investigate, but contacted us in the late morning on Monday.'' Ms Tucker added that the experience had led her to consider stopping taking cheques and accepting only credit cards or cash.

She said: "It's a small business and I'm a woman and young and I think people are more prone to take advantage of that -- people would be less likely to try this kind of thing with Trimingham's or Cooper's.

"There's not much you can do about it except stop taking cheques, but that isn't really practical.''