Supermarkets Admit Price Fixing - 9th Dec 2007 12:41am
Originally Posted by BBC News
Supermarket firms Sainsbury's and Asda have admitted that they were part of a dairy price-fixing group that earned about £270m extra from shoppers.
The supermarkets, along with a number of dairy firms, have agreed to pay fines totalling some £116m after an Office of Fair Trading (OFT) probe.
Cases against Tesco and Morrisons will continue after no deal was struck.
The OFT said that in-store prices went up after the collusion, but the amount received by farmers did not increase.
However, the firms insist that the farm gate price paid for milk did rise and that they were not ripping off customers.
The OFT said the collusion saw customers being charged 3 pence extra for a pint of milk, 15p extra per quarter-pound of butter and 15p per half-pound of cheese, the watchdog said.
The supermarkets, along with a number of dairy firms, have agreed to pay fines totalling some £116m after an Office of Fair Trading (OFT) probe.
Cases against Tesco and Morrisons will continue after no deal was struck.
The OFT said that in-store prices went up after the collusion, but the amount received by farmers did not increase.
However, the firms insist that the farm gate price paid for milk did rise and that they were not ripping off customers.
The OFT said the collusion saw customers being charged 3 pence extra for a pint of milk, 15p extra per quarter-pound of butter and 15p per half-pound of cheese, the watchdog said.
The real question is, where is the £270million going to go, you can bet your life its not going to the farmers who so desperatly need it! More stealth revenue for the government no doubt!
I think this whole scandel is disgusting, once again in the UK, the authorities let the consumers be ripped off! The only people who have lost out are the consumers, the supermarkets paying what they took illegally is hardly punishment...
BBC News Report