The BBC Trust has ruled that a report in a 2015 edition of BBC 1’s Watchdog about pet store chain Pets at Home was not accurate and that some aspects were “not duly impartial and not fair.”

It ruled that the relentlessly critical nature of the programme and the failure to reflect the incidence it discovered of good standards, best practice and good service led to unfairness to Pets at Home. As such, says the trust, the failings were a “serious breach of the BBC’s editorial standards.”

The BBC Trust is the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation. It operates independent of BBC management and external bodies.

Pets at Home says that after Watchdog reported on some of its stores in 2012, it put safeguards in place and has done everything it said it would do, including independently verified welfare procedures. In a video statement on its website, it said it was disappointed that Watchdog revisited its claims and made unfair and inaccurate new allegations.

The trust upheld an allegation about inaccurate information material on keeping reptiles being provided in Pets at Home Stores. The company says that it will be updating this in conjunction with the RSPCA.

You can read the full report from the BBC Trust here:  can be found at http://bbc.in/2nLhbt2