M&S to charge customers 5p for plastic bags

The company today confounded City forecasts by announcing better-than-expected profits of £451 million, almoost 12 per cent up on last year.

The decision follows a successful trial by the company in Northern Ireland, which has led to a 66 per cent reduction in the number of bags used by shoppers.

There are plans to introduce the scheme in hundreds of M&S stores across the country and other retailers are expected to follow suit.

M&S is leading the national drive by retailers to reduce the nation's reliance on billions of free plastic bags which are thrown out and take up to 500 years to rot away.

The impact of the charging policy - which will begin in February in the South-West of England - will be softened by a decision by M&S to give away free reusable bags to customers in the weeks before the switch.

The decision by the M&S chief executive Stuart Rose to pursue charging is a high-risk strategy. It risks driving shoppers away to rival outlets.

However, Mr Rose said yesterday: "Our initial trial in Northern Ireland has shown us that introducing charging does make customers think twice about the number of bags they use, which is why we are extending our carrier bag charging trial to the South West of England.

"If we see similar results and get an encouraging response from our customers in the South West, we plan to roll this out across the UK."

On his firm's surprisingly good profits, Rose said: "Whilst the short-term economic outlook remains uncertain, the actions we have taken to reposition and revitalise M&S over the last three years put us in a good position to continue to outperform."

The South-West trial will include 33 M&S stores in Dorset, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Devon and Cornwall.

For three weeks from January 13, customers will receive a free M&S Bag for Life with each food transaction. The 5p charge for standard food carrier bags will be introduced on February 3.

The M&S charging system is modelled on the plastic bag tax regime that operates in the Republic of Ireland. Use of the bags fell by 90 per cent after the tax, currently the equivalent of 15p, was introduced in 2002.