BA/Virgin fuel “price fixing†trial collapses
Sunday, 11 May, 2010
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A court hearing into allegations of price fixing between British Airways and Virgin Atlantic has collapsed.
Three ex-BA executives and one current manager had denied charges of agreeing with Virgin Atlantic to fix fuel surcharge prices between 2004 and 2006.
Prosecuting QC Richard Latham told the judge at Southwark Crown Court in London that he would offer "no evidence", the BBC reported.
This follows the judge raising questions about the prosecution’s case on Friday.
Mr Justice Owen said he had considered "whether the manifest failures on the part of the prosecution are such as to render a fair trial impossible".
The Office of Fair Trading had failed to disclose key information to the defence, the court heard.
One recently discovered email suggested that Virgin had increased its fuel surcharge without consulting BA, undermining claims that the two had colluded on fixing their surcharges.
William Boyce QC, defending one BA executive, said that had this email come to light earlier, the case may never have come to court.
BA head of sales Andrew Crawley, ex-commercial director Martin George, ex-communications head Iain Burns and ex-UK and Ireland sales chief Alan Burnett all denied the accusations.
Phil Davies
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