Carl Hayes

A DAVID-AND-GOLIATH battle between a Liverpool small businessman and a major supermarket chain will reach London’s High Court tomorrow.

Carl Hayes, 43, of Wavertree, who operated a chain of butchers’ concession units, is claiming £2.7m from the Somerfield group, saying he was cheated out of a large amount of his weekly sales.

Somerfield, which took over the Kwik Save brand where Mr Hayes’s businesses were based in Liverpool and Wirral, is contesting the claim and has applied to have it struck out.

The 3½-year battle has taken its toll on Mr Hayes, who is now bankrupt and claiming Jobseekers’ Allowance. Mr Hayes claims his business, Cleveland Butchers, had its concession terminated by the supermarket chain after he alleged “mis-accounting”.

He alleged meat and deli products at the check-out were mis-scanned so the supermarket kept a percentage of the sales from his butchery concession.

Mr Hayes’s firm, based at the Argyle industrial estate, in Birkenhead, eventually went bust with the loss of 94 jobs.