THEY are the plastic containers used to transport millions of loaves of bread to supermarkets, corner shops and the catering trade across the UK every day.
But in the first legal move of its kind in Scotland, the ubiquitous bread baskets are at the centre of a legal challenge between an Edinburgh bakery and one of the giants of the industry.
Bakers Basco, which was set up by five of the UK’s leading plant bakers, has taken out on interdict against The Pine Tree Bakery over its continuing unauthorised use of the trays it supplies to the bread trade.
The Polish bakery in the south of the capital has faced a number legal challenges for using the baskets without the facilities’ firm’s permission.
But now Bakers Basco, which supplies around four million of the Omega Baskets to Britain’s bread industry, has secured a Perpetual Interdict, which effectively slaps a permanent ban on the Edinburgh firm from using its property.
The company, which often attaches GPS trackers to its baskets, had used its own dedicated asset recovery team tasked to recover the equipment.
Although Bakers Basco has taken action a number of times in the past decade against Pine Tree’s owner Sebastain Sosenko for misuse of its equipment, this is the first time it has ever used the Scottish legal system directly to protect its members’ interests.
In May, its lawyers successfully applied to the Sherriff Court for an Interim Interdict banning Mr Sosenko from misusing their client’s equipment. They also asked for enforcement costs and legal costs to be awarded against him. The court ruled in favour of Bakers Basco.
And earlier this month the lawyers asked for a Perpetual Interdict against Mr Sosenko, which was granted on June 14th.
Once issued, Mr Sosenko will have 14 days to return the property. If he fails to do so, Bakers Basco said it would be entitled to send in Sherriff Officers to reclaim its property.
Steve Millward, general manager at Bakers Basco said: “This is not the first time Mr Sosenko has been caught using our members’ equipment without their permission; in fact, we’ve had to take action against him on numerous previous occasions. That’s why we have been forced to ask for a permanent interdict stopping him from using and abusing our baskets and other items.
“Our recovery team tracked a sizeable amount of our equipment to The Pine Tree Bakery in Edinburgh and found that, despite the courts ruling in our favour numerous times in the past, he is continuing to treat other people’s property as if it were his own.”
The company said several million pounds’ worth of its bread trays and equipment were misappropriated every year “by third parties who have no contractual relationship with the bread manufacturers” and converted for other purposes.
Its products are used by over 20 industry leaders, including Allied Bakeries, Fine Lady Bakeries, Frank Roberts and Sons, Hovis and Warburton’s, to deliver bread to their customers.
Applying for the interdict, Bakers Basco said Mr Sosenko had been caught using its equipment without authorisation since 2008. The firm’s lawyers also claimed the items were returned after Bakers Basco took legal action, resulting over £6000 in costs and damages.
In the last few years the firm has initiated over 250 court actions seeking damages and has currently secured around 20 injunctions to protect its equipment.
In 2014, two Warburton’s employees were jailed for a total of 10 years for the theft of £500,000 worth of Bakers Basco trays.
The Herald made a number of attempts to contact Mr Sosenko but he was unavailable.
Originally posted Evening Times 23 June 2016