OFT raps Sports Direct over 'closing down' promotions

Sports Direct has humbly agreed to Office of Fair Trading demands not to mislead customers over any future 'closing down' promotions.

The OFT had received complaints from customers that Sports Direct's subsidiaries subsidiaries Sportsdirect.com, Gilesports and Hargreaves Sports were displaying closing down ads for several months in the windows of shops. However, some of the shops in question did not actually close or they closed temporarily for a very short period of time for refurbishment.

The OFT considered the advertisements to be in breach of the Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations 1988.

In a statement the OFT said: "In the opinion of the OFT the advertisements created the incorrect impression that the shop in question was to close permanently and as a result of the imminent closure the consumer only had a very short period of time to purchase the goods and/or that only a limited amount of stock was available."

Sports Direct's chairman Mike Ashley, who is the owner of Newcastle United football club, has barely been out of the news since he floated the discount sports retail group last year.