ONE OF the newest companies at New Covent Garden Market has ceased trading amid rumours of union intimidation.

Fresh produce firm Veg.Com Limited, which supplied wholesalers and caterers, closed down one week before Christmas after 10 months at the Nine Elms site.

Veg.Com allegedly failed to employ market porters – as stipulated by the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU), and as a consequence company staff were allegedly threatened and customers advised to boycott the firm.

But TGWU market officer Thomas O'Driscoll dismissed reports of bully-boy tactics. And the Covent Garden Market Authority said it was unaware the company had any problems with the union, or that the TGWU had anything to do with Veg.Com's decision to leave the market.

O'Driscoll claimed Veg.Com boss Sye Hussain signed an agreement on arrival at New Covent Garden, in which the rule to retain porters is stipulated.

The firm was granted a six-month reprieve from the regulation while it established a customer base.

'When Veg.Com started doing business, we approached the company and said it should now be employing porters,' said O'Driscoll. 'Mr Hussain said he needed more time before he could afford to do so. But we found he was already charging porterage to customers.

'Customers therefore complained because they weren't getting the service they were paying for, and were used to on the market.' Nevertheless, O'Driscoll added that there was no rancour between the company and the union while it was open for business. 'We went out of our way to help them,' he said. l