London Wholesale Bakery and its director Ricky Paul Ramsay, and Breadcraft and its director Paul Anthony Ramsay were ordered to return all equipment in their possession and restrained from misappropriating it in the future.
Should they fail to comply with the ruling, they risk a range of financial sanctions being imposed against both the companies and themselves personally. A custodial sentence could also not be ruled out of consideration.
This wasn’t the first instance that Bakers Basco has crossed paths with the Ramsays and their bakery businesses.
Equipment misuse
Basco issued proceedings against one such company – the now liquidated Shieldbase – in December 2014, resulting in Paul Ramsay consenting to an undertaking not to repeat any misuse of Bakers Basco’s equipment.
Steve Millward, general manager at Bakers Basco, said: “Despite having already experienced the consequences of earlier cases, including significant costs and damages, here we are yet again having to pursue legal action with the defendants.
“We can only hope that the lesson has now been learned and the Ramsays will now refrain from misappropriating any equipment belonging to ourselves or our membership.”
Breadcraft was also served a £1,075.10 in costs and damages for previously misusing equipment, which Basco claimed had yet to be paid.
‘Unlawful activity’
“This unlawful activity is so selfish. It’s an example of greedy people trying to save themselves money by using someone else’s property, to the cost of bread manufacturers, honest retailers and the shopping public,” Millward added.
“We’re not going to stand for it, and we will continue to deploy the latest technologies – such as GPS tracking chips – in our products, as well as using good old fashioned detective work to identify serial abusers.”
Meanwhile, in March, Al-Ummah Halal Poultry of Barnsley agreed to pay £18,000 in costs and damages to Bakers Basco after using its bakery equipment without permission.