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BAA rapped for saying customers 'won't pay a penny more' in airport bars and shops
Last updated at 07:37am on 30.08.07Airport operator BAA has been ordered to stop claiming prices in its shops and bars were the same as those on the high street.
The advertising watchdog ruled the company - which runs seven UK airports including Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted - should withdraw leaflets promising passengers they "won't pay a penny more" than normal.
The Advertising Standards Authority upheld a complaint after finding that while prices at airports often matched City of London or West End tariffs, where high rents drive up the retail price, they were substantially higher than in the regions.
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Shops at Heathrow airport, which BAA has claimed were as cheap as the high street
It discovered that a glass of house wine at a bar at the three big London airports cost 40 per cent more than in bars run by the same company in regional towns and cities.
Almost 150 million passengers used BAA's UK airports last year and the firm makes almost half its revenue from retailing - leading to frequent accusations that it does so to the neglect of airport facilities and tackling delays.
One BAA leaflet which listed food and drink outlets at Stansted stated: "The price of all food and drink sold in BAA airports is matched with the UK high street, so you won't pay a penny more than you're used to."
A second leaflet, entitled Taste, said: "Don't forget, our caterers are committed to matching the price of all the food and drink they sell within their airport stores against their high street equivalents."
BAA told the watchdog its contracts with retailers demanded price parity with the high street and that it carried out regular spot checks.
In cases where the retailer did not have a branch on the local high street, checks would take place at the nearest outlet.
But the ASA found that WHSmith stores at Gatwick, Heathrow and Stansted were only obliged to match their prices with five WHSmith branches in Central London: Holborn, Leadenhall, Oxford Street Plaza, Fleet Street and Baker Street.
The Stansted store had an additional benchmark of a WHSmith store in Central Cambridge.
JD Wetherspoon bars in the three airports were obliged to match the average of the price charged at three of their premises in the City of London.
In its ruling, the ASA said: "We considered that customers would see the claims 'matched with the UK high street, so you won't pay a penny more than you're used to' and 'committed to matching ... their high street equivalents' as a reference to prices on their local high street or high streets near to the airports. We concluded the claims were misleading." A BAA spokesman said: "We recognise, after this single complaint, that confusion may of been caused and will of course comply with this ruling to ensure that all our customer communications offer greater clarity in the future."
He said it was "too early to say" if prices would be reduced.
