smallbusiness.co.uk: Helping your business think big

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has 'clearly failed' in preventing the domination of supermarkets, according to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).

Head of the OFT John Fingleton claims that people want their local stores to stay open, but do not actually take the time to shop in them.

But the FSB has hit back, saying that 'there isn't a level playing field when it comes to grocery retailing'.

Spokesperson for the FSB Simon Briault comments that it is failures on behalf of the OFT that have been responsible for the closure of 2,000 small shops each year.

'The head of the OFT shouldn't be allowed to get away with just accusing people of being 'schizophrenic' about shopping,' Briault adds.

He also says that the inquiry's remit 'was far too narrow' and did not include issues like parking or below-cost selling.

The FSB is a campaigning pressure group which works on behalf of small businesses in the UK.

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