Cannot set boolean to null

I have a class Shop with the following variable

@Column(columnDefinition = "bit")
private boolean atShop;

Using this value, I am using HSQL to retrieve this information from the application

from Person person
left join fetch person.shop

when I try call this HSQL statement i get the following error

org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.HibernateSystemException: could not set a field value by reflection setter of com.test.dataobject.Shop.atShop; nested exception is org.hibernate.PropertyAccessException: could not set a field value by reflection setter of com.test.dataobject.Shop.atShop

It is throwing this because it is trying to set the boolean to null in the HSQL. I can solve this problem by changing private boolean atShop; to private Boolean atShop; but i want to keep this as a boolean as i am saving it as a bit in my database

Is there a way to solve this without changing boolean to Boolean?

EDIT:

I know that boolean can only be true/false and Boolean can be set to null, but is there a way to get hibernate/spring to set this value to false(which i thought it should do automatically) instead of trying to set it to null and throwing this exception?

I have also tried adding annotation to automatically set the value to false but this does not work either

@Column(nullable = false, columnDefinition = "bit default 0")
private boolean atShop;