Wiseman and Arla scuffle twists again

One of the longest running feuds in the dairy sector has taken another twist.

The Competition Appeals Tribunal has overturned the Office of Fair Trading’s 2002 decision to close its investigation into alleged abuse of a dominant position in the Scottish milk market by Robert Wiseman Dairies.

The two-year investigation, originally referred to the Competition Commission in 2000, followed complaints from Express Dairies (now part of Arla Foods UK) in 1999.

A Wiseman spokesman, said the CAT had not actually ordered the enquiry to be reopened. “Not a shred of evidence has ever been put in front of Wiseman to consider.”

But Arla Foods said it would now be making submissions to the OFT to discuss the future progress of the multi-million pound investigation and was also looking to reclaim its “significant” costs from the OFT and Wiseman.