BY DAVID BROWN

Tesco supermarkets has been fined £5,000 for misleading customers with a special deal on its squash drinks.

The UKÍs largest grocer ran a promotion offering ñTesco Squash, buy two and get the third freeî, Harrow magistrates heard on Monday last week.

But a Brent and Harrow Trading Standards Service officer bought three bottles of £1.29 ñTesco Hi Juice Squashî from the Station Road, Harrow, store and was charged full price.

He advised the store that the promotion could mislead the public but the following week had the same problem at Tesco in Kenton Lane, Belmont.

Tesco denied misleading customers and told magistrates it referred to Tesco Hi Juice Squash simply as Hi Juice and saw it as a superior and separate range to its squash products.

However, a buying manager for the company admitted the wording of the promotion could mislead customers into thinking they could buy three bottles of Hi Juice Squash for the price of two.

Magistrates accepted that Hi Juice was another variety of Tesco squash and found the company guilty of two offences under the Consumer Protection Act for giving misleading price indications.

Trading standards director John Taylor said after the trial: ñIt is the duty of business to ensure that customers are not misled by false price indications.

ñI would advise anyone who thinks that they may have been overcharged with respect to the purchase of any goods or services to contact the trading standards department.î

Brent and Harrow Trading Standards Service can be contacted on 020 8937 5555.