The National Federation of Retail Newsagents has been left disappointed after the Office of Fair Trading decided against holding a review into newspaper cover prices.

The federation had submitted what it called an ‘overwhelming’ case  for a review by the OFT after a survey revealed that cover price rises put people off buying newspapers and magazines.

This month they were informed that no such review would take place and will now take legal advice on their future options.

National president of the NFRN Kieran McDonnell said they were disappointed but not surprised that that the OFT had not been prepared to conduct a thorough investigation.

In its announcement on 1 March the OFT said: “Having made an assessment against its Prioritisation Principles the OFT has decided that, on the whole, consumers would not be likely to  benefit significantly in terms of lower price, increased availability or greater convenience as a result of an update review and any subsequent further investigation of the sector.”

NFRN Chief Executive Paul Baxter said the federation had provided the OFT with hundreds of examples as to how prices of newspapers and magazines have escalated in recent years, all of which had been ignored.

Said Paul: “We will now be taking legal advice on our options here and in European law. We are determined to do all we can to tackle the issues that impact on all independent retailers.”

The OFT said it was convinced that in-store availability of newspapers and magazines had improved, the number of news retailers remained stable, that average newspaper and magazine prices had declined between January 2009 and August 2011, and that there have been further steps towards self-regulation.

NFRN’s survey had found that of 1,400 customers 76pc of newspaper readers and 68pc of magazine readers thought that the cover price is a fixed price that they must pay rather than a recommended retail price.