Supermarkets swoop on berry farm operation

Aug 15 2008 by Jenny Wood, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

Supermarkets swoop on berry farm operation

ALMOST immediately after the PA exposed the shocking living conditions suffered by local fruit farm workers, frantic efforts got underway to clean-up the controversial operation.

Last week, we exposed how strawberries destined for some of Scotland’s biggest supermarkets were being picked by staff living in sweatshop-style accommodation at David Leslie’s Scones Lethendy fruit farm.

While the farmer lived comfortably in his turreted mansion, our pictures revealed how staff lived a stone’s throw away, crammed into rank-smelling, slummy metal containers, with no toilets or running water.

When the PA visited, pickers showed us the shocking, and indecent, shower facilities and we saw evidence that a significant chunk of their wages were being deducted for renting this sub-standard accommodation.

Even Leslie’s roadside strawberry shop was better equipped than the quarters he laid on for his workers, mostly from Bulgaria, Slovakia, Poland and the Czech Republic.

But when the seedy side of the operation at Scones of Lethendy was rumbled, supermarkets – previously impressed by the Perthshire farmer’s strawberries – swooped on the farm and called for immediate changes.

A Tesco team arrived at the farm last week “as a matter of urgency” and the supermarket conceded there were “genuine and serious concerns that needed to be addressed,” adding “our auditing processes are very strict and it is quite clear the standards were below those expected.”

David Leslie’s soft fruit had also been destined for shelves of Sainsbury’s supermarkets.

Representatives from the retail chain also arrived to take a closer look at their supplier after our story.

A Sainsbury’s spokesperson told us: “We take the welfare of workers and their working conditions very seriously.

“We visited the farm in June and again last week and, having reviewed working practices, we asked for changes to be made.

“We will visit again in the next two to three weeks to ensure these changes have been carried out,” the supermarket vowed.

Leslie’s operation is also under investigation by various authorities including immigration officials, the local police, fire service, council and Gangmasters Licensing Authority.

Meanwhile, the PA can also reveal the landlord receiving the rock-bottom rent wealthy farmer Leslie pays for his Scones Lethendy site is a charitable trust established to relieve poverty in Perth.

Last year the Scones Lethendy Mortification Trust, a registered Scottish Charity, posted an income of £35,000 – believed to be mostly rent from David Leslie for Scones of Lethendy, the base for his fruit and polytunnel production businesses.

According to old records, over a period spanning 1660 to 1743, the Scones Lethendy land was bequeathed to aid poor people in the burgh of Perth.

The rent of the land is now paid into the Scones Lethendy Mortification Trust fund which has links to Perth’s King James VI Hospital and some of the city’s most prominent churches.

A spokesman for Scones Lethendy Mortifications Trust told the PA: “We are extremely concerned to read the newspaper report and will review the situation and any possible action which can be taken once the results of the investigation are finalised.”

Mr Leslie’s lawyer said he was unable to comment.