Island "caught with trousers down" in Shoprite takeover says former OFT chair

Martyn Perkins says regulations should have been in place sooner

The Island was caught with its "trousers down" when Tesco took over Shoprite, according to a former chair of the Office of Fair Trading.

The supermarket chain bought all nine local stores last year and plans to re-brand them in the coming months.

Martyn Perkins says, had secondary legislation of the Competition's Act been brought in sooner, the takeover would have been investigated.

He believes it left the Island in a tricky position: