Sainsbury's fined over 'discounted' products

Sainsbury's has been heavily fined for charging hundreds of shoppers the full price for groceries sold under special offers.

The supermarket chain was ordered to pay £19,441 after it admitted to failings that led to products with discount stickers being delivered to Local and Central stores in London where the discounts were not valid.

It also warned that "it was possible" similar mistakes could happen in other parts of the country - and could not guarantee customers would not be overcharged again. Sainsbury's pleaded guilty to a total of 10 charges after an undercover operation by Trading Standards officers at the stores in south London.

It was the seventh time the supermarket had been fined for such offences. Lambeth Trading Standards launched the latest prosecution-after one of its officers, David Morris, noticed Sainsbury's Local stores in Lambeth were not honouring many of their special-discount offers.

These included "Buy one and get the second half-price" and "Buy three, save £1" discounts. A month after notifying Sainsbury's the problem had still not been resolved.

A spokesman for Lambeth council said: "Mr Morris then spent several weeks visiting all six Sainsbury's Local stores in Lambeth, purchasing various "special offer" items. Problems were found at every store, with overcharging occurring on at least 31 separate occasions."

On one occasion Mr Morris was overcharged for 10 out of 11 items bought, adding about 25 per cent to his final bill. One checkout assistant even asked Mr Morris to calculate the discounts because she was "no good at maths".

Sainsbury's pleaded guilty to 10 offences under the Consumer Protection Act at Camberwell magistrates' court earlier this month for giving misleading price indications. It was ordered to pay a total of £19,441 in fines and costs within 14 days.

A Sainsbury's spokeswoman said: "Clearly it was a mistake on our part and we have acknowledged that by pleading guilty.

"Very often certain offers are not available at Sainsbury's Local or Central stores. It's an industry norm and we often state it on our advertising.

"The problem occurred when the products were sent incorrectly to those stores marked up with promotion stickers."

Asked if the problems could be occurring elsewhere, she said: "I really don't know. It is possible that's the case.

"I really don't know of other incidences but Trading Standards go around all stores on a regular basis to make sure it doesn't happen and we also do our own checks."

She said anyone who thought they had been overcharged should take their receipt to the shop where they purchased the item and management would deal with each case individually.