Bakery pays £5,250 for bread basket misuse

In the latest of a series of similar cases, the cakes and buns maker provided Bristol Country Court with a formal undertaking to stop using Bakers Basco’s bread baskets last week (February 6). It also had to pay £5,250 in costs and damages.

Anstee’s Bakery had been caught using other companies’ equipment previously, Bakers Basco claimed. The bakery was said to have paid a total of £2,200 in damages for previous offences.

Deputy district judge Ellery said Anstee’s Bakery could be fined, have its assets seized, or its owner imprisoned, if it was caught using the equipment again, Bakers Basco said.

Designed for transporting bread safely

The baskets were designed for transporting bread safely, said Bakers Basco, a firm which buys, manages and polices basket use in the bread industry.

Bakers Basco general manager Steve Millward said: “Our baskets and dollies are designed to transport bread safely, cost-effectively and in an environmentally-friendly way.

“But, when people divert them for their own use, it has a knock-on effect on bakers, retailers and, at the end of the day, shoppers: all of whom end up footing the bill for the actions of a small minority.”

The latest compensation agreement was the fourth payment to Bakers Basco in six months. It has now received about £24,000 in total, after damages from sandwich maker Authentic Bite, Buckley Bakehouse bakery and pastry-maker Andrew Jones Pies.

‘Abusing our equipment’

“This is the latest in a series of ongoing cases where we have had to pursue legal action to stop people from using and abusing our equipment,” said Millward.

Bakers Basco director Mike Roberts added: “Unfortunately, some people have rather more ingenious, and wrong, uses for [our bread baskets], sometimes risking public safety, their own good name and their bank balance.

“Lobster pots, security doors, sheep feeders, even a monkey bridge at a zoo – we’ve seen baskets used for all of these.”