Sir Tom Hunter’s garden-centre war with Tesco ended in acrimony on Thursday when the entrepreneur accused the Dobbies board of “rolling over” for the supermarket group’s bid.

Shortly before a 5pm “put up or shut up” deadline set by the Takeover Panel, Sir Tom’s West Coast Capital vehicle announced it would not contest Tesco’s £15 a share offer for Dobbies, but blamed the target’s board for failing to ignite an auction.