Double value

From the Oxford Mail, first published Saturday 2nd Sep 2006.

Youngsters at primary schools can be kitted out with a new school uniform in Oxford for less than a tenner.

Following the news of a fierce retailer price war bringing costs down, we took six-year-old twin brothers Zachary and Jacob Milne-Davies, who live in Percy Street, East Oxford, and family friend Lucy Kaiser to the city centre to see for ourselves what local stores were charging. Primark, in the Westgate Centre, offered the cheapest shirts, at a mere £2.50 for a pack of two shirts or polo-shirts, but the shop did not stock trousers or jumpers.

Marks & Spencer offered cotton polo shirts for £2, trousers for £4 and V-neck jumpers for £4.

Bhs, in Queen Street, also came up trumps, offering two short-sleeved shirts for £4 and two pairs of grey trousers for £10 - just £7 per child. Ms Kaiser said: "It seems pretty good value, especially as they go through them so quickly."

A Bhs spokesman said: "All the items in the Bhs Back to School range offer great value for money and superb quality."

Elsewhere in the county, Tesco is selling shirts, trousers and jumpers for about £2 each, Woolworths' range is priced from £1 and in Mothercare, uniforms start from about £2.50 for a shirt. The price war came after the Office of Fair Trading launched an investigation into the school uniforms market, prompted by complaints from parents about high prices and poor quality.

The OFT has written to nearly 10,000 state schools to find out whether their uniforms policy gives parents a choice about where to buy uniforms.

At SS Mary and John CE First School, where Zachary and Jacob are pupils, parents are free to choose where they buy their children's uniforms. Other schools, such as St John Fisher Primary School, in Littlemore, ask that children wear school logo T-shirts, costing £4.50, and jumpers at £7.50.

Linda Hughes, of Thompson Terrace, Littlemore, said it proved quite costly to get her daughter Bethany, five, kitted out.

She said: "They are trying to make money on school uniforms and if they won't reduce the cost, they shouldn't make people wear them.

"She also has to have a school logo folder and water bottle and it all costs."

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