Win - Win - Lose

Win - Gov't pocket's the fines.
Win - Supermarkets & business - net gain (profit - fines).
Lose - Farmers have been cheated and get nothing .

So what's new?

Mark - Wrexham

Mark, Wrexham, U.K.

As an employee of Sainsbury’s, I know from experience "they" are indeed driven by profit+greed & corruption is rife throughout. These claims are well founded! I have evidence showing "Sainsbury's" has+will falsify data to protect their own interests! So,feel no pity for them or any other co implicated in this,as they have no empathy or compassion for the avrg dairy farmer,shopper,or employee &-I agree with Kerome, London.
Im aware Mr King, CEO turns a blind eye to (at times, obvious) illegalities from all levels,has selective memory when enforcing their published "Corp Responsibilities" &"Fair Treatment Policy" to (some,not all) highly unscrupulous line managers with too much access to various personnel data. This's easily abused to weaken& degrade others (inc their own staff) if its in their co interests to do so? However,bad reputation=bad for business+shareholders! Any available power or resource will be used! So, keep in mind, Sainsbury's are a major £ backer of the Labour Gov...

Elizabeth, Glasgow, Scotland, Uk

The Asda)/Sainsbury et al rip-off is just another example of what companies will do when they are driven by sheer 'Greed'. But if my arithmetic is right, it pays to be greedy. In this respect the supermarket groups and their friends pocketed over £300 million ($600 million plus), but where they were only fined jointly no more than £116 million ($235 million). Even if they broke even with their illegal and rip-off transactions, one does not have to be an Einstein to know that this certainly isn't a deterrent by any means. Therefore the greed will just continue and where as the supermarkets have so much dominance and power now, the people will just have to accept it and pay up. Unfortunately for humankind this greed is far more sinister than it appears at face value, for if you look at how the world's resources are being exploited at an alarming rate by corporates, this greed will be the eventual undoing of the human experience itself.

Dr David Hill
World Innovation Foundation

david hill, Bern, swiss

Don't fine them- there are far more important things to investigate than a few supermarkets giving a few extra pennies to hard-up British farmers.

If they have to be fined, then rather than the money going to the OFT, perhaps it would be better to distribute the money to Sainsburys/necter card holders in the form of vouchers-maybe even milk vouchers!

Sarah, Scarborough,

Erm....we, the customers have overpaid £270 million- any chance of getting any of it back?

A Walden, whitstable,

good, they have plenty of money in profits from us consumers.
should be ashamed of price fixing on items are are our daily necessary requirements. Milk and bread....both at high prices

sanj, london, uk

If the supermarkets have been found to "price fix" on milk/dairy products, what else (among the 1000's of lines they carry) will they have "price fixed" on also? Secondly, are the supermarkets compounding issue of using sweatshops around the world (with the High street retailers) to maximise profits at the cost of everything else?

Confused consumer, London, UK

If you read the side of a tesco milk bottle it actually says they are committed to paying a fair price to their farmers. the fact that the supermarkets were paying more was publicised at the time, and was in response to previous criticism in the press of using their positions to force the farmers to sell the milk at an extremely low price. It seems the supermarkets can't win whatever they do. We are far from riped off by them and the cost of food now is comparitively much lower than what it was before they started competing so vigorously.

ZE, Oxford,

Absolutely outrageous. That really comes down to defrauding the public, and skimming a nice profit from every man, woman and child in the country... I hope they fine the supermarkets at least what they got in profits plus a big punitive amount. Anything less would send completely the wrong message.

The large supermarkets already have huge advantages in the market from economies of scale and placement of their own brand products, they *really* do not need to do this kind of thing to stay profitable, and the regulators should come down hard on them when they do.

Kerome, London,

So, a couple of supermarkets have admitted to fixing the price of milk and are fined. What's going to happen to the legion of MPs who have admitted to receiving illegal payments for their election campaigns?

Nobby Clark, Perth,

It's all very well fining the companies after the event but that doesn't put the money back in the shoppers pocket does it?
If the overcharging went on for 2 years the price should now be set at a similar amount below the correct market price and held at that level for the same period.

Can't see the Government going for that though as no doubt they will be pocketing the fines and checking their travel brochures to see what they can squander it on.

Graham, Pattaya, Thailand

DIARY producers eh? Like filofax you mean?....haha

peter rabbage, gloucester, UK

And that charge will simply be levied on us the consumer - why not float the idea of prison terms for top management who are found guilty of such price fixing instead of fines. We need a real disincentive to protect our rights.

Farrukh, Woking, UK