Sir Tom Hunter’s West Coast Capital on Monday asked a judge to order Tesco to buy its stake in Dobbies Garden Centres as the battle between the private equity group and the supermarket chain moved to court.

In its petition to the Edinburgh court, much of it denied by Tesco, West Coast accused the Tesco-dominated board of the gardening chain of riding roughshod over minority shareholders by ending a dividend and using a share issue to take full control of Dobbies.