Arriva plc and FirstGroup plc
No. CA98/9/2002
5 February 2002
The Director General of Fair Trading has concluded that Arriva plc and FirstGroup plc have infringed section 2 of the Competition Act 1998 by entering into a market sharing agreement involving bus routes in the Leeds area. This agreement had as its object the prevention, restriction or distortion of competition within the UK. Financial penalties have been imposed with the fine for Arriva plc calculated as £318,175 and for FirstGroup plc as £529,852. However, both companies have benefited from the leniency scheme as they provided the Director General with evidence of the activities of the cartel. As a result, Arriva plc's fine has been reduced by 36 per cent to £203,632 and that for FirstGroup by 100 per cent to nil.
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