Shoppers would be 'misled' by pricing

Officers monitored prices over a year of a range of 46 goods that were part of Asda's "Roll back now even lower" offer.

Miles Bennett, prosecuting, accused the store of attempting to persuade shoppers to believe it had made instant price cuts on goods.

But the figures used in the price comparison referred to amounts charged over a year ago, he said.

In one case no discount was ever observed by officers.

He said: "The 'roll back now even lower' price for Asda crisps was �1.15 but the crisps had been available for �1.15 for the last eight months."

He said the store was entitled to state there was a price reduction but in this case there had not been a reduction for a very long time.

'Wrong' policy

The court also heard that some supermarkets reduced prices of goods for a very short period before increasing them again although Asda said this was an allegation never levelled at it.

"We've never done it," a spokeswoman said.

The supermarket had been charged with 11 breaches of the Act but was found not guilty on two counts.

Judge Heley said that although regular customers would know what the store was doing others would be significantly "misled".

'Common practice'

But Asda's trading and consumer law manager, Gordon Madden, justified the practice claiming that the discount scheme targeted items that people bought regularly.

"The standard price of a product was taken and then driven down," he added.

Rachel Fellows, a spokeswoman for Asda, said the supermarket's pricing policy had now been changed so that a repetition could not occur.

"We are sorry if anybody felt they were misled, that was not our intention.