Award-winning A J Pies admits using bakery firm’s equipment without permission, pays £7,000 compensation.
Award-winning Yorkshire pie maker A J Pies and Pastries Limited, which trades as Andrew Jones Pies (AJP), has agreed to stop using baker’s trays and related equipment belonging to Bakers Basco without permission and to pay combined compensation of £7,000.
Bakers Basco has been in Litigation with Huddersfield-based AJP for some months. AJP makes meat pies, pastries and sausage rolls, and Bakers Basco’s investigations had established that it was using Bakers Basco equipment to transport its products. AJP is understood to have over 300 stockists including Asda, Booths, Costcutter, Morrison’s, Nisa, Sainsbury’s and Tesco.
Following an initial hearing in September at Huddersfield County Court, a trial was scheduled for early 2017 at which Bakers Basco would have applied for an Injunction, a Court ruling banning AJP from misappropriating and misusing Bakers Basco’s trays and dollies.
However, in November 2016, AJP agreed to enter into a Consent Order, a formal undertaking not to continue using equipment belonging to Bakers Basco or its members. AJP also agreed to pay a combined sum of £7,000 to settle the litigation.
“Our recovery team tracked a sizeable amount of our equipment being used by Andrew Jones Pies,”
explained Steve Millward, General Manager, Bakers Basco.
“It was clear they had been appropriated to transport and store AJP’s own products. Our baskets and trolleys are meant for transporting bread, and only bread, safely, cost-effectively and in an environmentally-friendly way, and should not be used without our consent or for any other purpose.”
Bakers Basco is a company set up to manage and license a pool of four million bread baskets and dollies for the use of bakers. This allows for sharing of costs, a common design which optimises space in delivery vehicles (hence reducing ‘food miles’) and a reduction in waste from disposable packaging ending up in landfill. Currently, around 25 bakeries, ranging from small to very large, are licensed to use the equipment.
Bakers Basco bread baskets and trolleys are clearly marked as the company’s property. Usually, when it becomes aware that its equipment is being used without permission, a simple request to return the items is enough. However, in cases where companies hold on to Bakers Basco’s property after being asked to return it, it will take legal action.
It introduced GPS technology last year to help in its fight against the theft and abuse of bread baskets from its baker network, and has recently announced the roll-out of new improved tracking devices which have battery lives 10 times longer than the first generation. The new GPS trackers will allow the company to track the movements of its equipment even more effectively.
Implementing GPS tracking across its basket fleet has significantly reduced losses and improved recovery levels by its special tactical team which is dedicated to finding and reclaiming missing equipment.