SUPERMARKET company Morrisons today won an apology and £100,000 in damages after the retailer was wrongly named in a price-fixing probe.
The Office of Fair Trading announced the settlement after Morrisons took legal action over a press release issued in September by the OFT at the same time as a statement of objections against a number of large supermarkets and dairy processors.
The release incorrectly stated that Bradford-based Morrisons was the subject of a provisional finding of infringement in relation to the supply of butter and cheese in 2002 and 2003. It also said the supermarket had previously been warned by the OFT against anti-competitive behaviour, which was not the case.
In fact, the only allegation relating to Morrisons involved liquid milk products in 2002.
The watchdog said today: “The OFT regrets that the press release contained these serious errors, and wishes to apologise sincerely to Morrisons for their publication.”
