Which? has called on the Office of Fair Trading to investigate what it called the “dodgy pricing tactics” of Britain’s supermarkets.

The consumer watchdog vowed to pass its findings on to the OFT following an investigation into 700,000 supermarket prices. It identified four ‘tactics’ it said were used to mislead shoppers.

Those included products becoming more expensive when they were included in multibuy offers and prices being hiked shortly before going on promotion in order to exaggerate the supposed discount.

Which? executive director Richard Lloyd called for legislation on food pricing to prevent shoppers being duped.

“Consumers shouldn’t have to worry about whether a special offer is really ‘special’, so we want the supermarkets to play fair and the government to tighten up pricing guidelines so that people can shop with confidence,” he said.

“At a time when household budgets are squeezed and food bills are going up, many people are on the lookout for a bargain. It’s unacceptable that shoppers are confused into thinking they’re getting a good deal when that might not be the case.”

Responding to the criticisms, the major supermarkets admitted to pricing “mistakes” but denied any of the instances cited by Which? were indicative of deliberate tactics to mislead shoppers.

“We change millions of price labels in store and online each week and we sometimes make mistakes, for which we apologise,” Tesco said. “We make every effort to ensure we act in accordance with government guidelines on price promotions.”

Asda said: “We are only human and occasionally we make mistakes. By and large our systems and procedures ensure those instances are kept to an absolute minimum but when we do get it wrong, we put our hands up to say sorry, and put things right as quickly as possible.”

Morrisons said: “We use different promotional mechanics – multibuys and discounted single unit price – to ensure all our customers can enjoy lower prices at different times. The multibuy price is always cheaper per unit than the standard price, as the lower prices were promotional discounts.”

Ocado admitted that on “one isolated occasion” a specific promotion “did not explain our offer in the required detail” and said measures were now in place to prevent a repeat.

“We continue to heavily monitor our processes accordingly,” the online specialist said.

Sainsbury’s added that its “buyers undergo regular training to help prevent” mistakes on pricing.

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