The chairman of a multinational infrastructure business embroiled in a High Court fight with a former chief executive has denied acting improperly.

Iain Ferguson, chairman of the Stobart Group, had defended his behaviour before and after Andrew Tinkler was dismissed from the board of directors during the summer.

Mr Tinkler has made a series of accusations about the alleged rigging of an annual general meeting vote and share transfers.

He also says his name was blackened, after Stobart bosses launched a media campaign, and his emails trawled.

Stobart bosses have sued Mr Tinkler.

They say Mr Tinkler conspired with other businessmen to harm the company's interests and made claims about money spent on air travel.

Bosses want Judge Jonathan Russen to rule that Mr Tinkler was lawfully dismissed as a director earlier this year.

Mr Tinkler, who was chief executive of the business between 2007 and 2017, denies wrongdoing, saying he was removed for no good reason, and has counter-claimed.

Judge Russen, who is overseeing a trial in London, has heard how the two men had become involved in a boardroom tussle.

Barrister John Taylor QC, who leads Mr Tinkler's legal team, outlined Mr Tinkler's complaints when questioning Mr Ferguson on Tuesday.

He complained of a "rigged AGM vote"; a media campaign which, he said, had been launched to blacken Mr Tinkler's name and encourage shareholders to support Mr Ferguson not Mr Tinkler; and the trawling of Mr Tinkler's emails.

Mr Ferguson, who has announced that he will be stepping down as chairman, said he was sad on the day Mr Tinkler was dismissed from the board.

But he said Mr Tinkler would not work with him, which would have left the board in a dysfunctional state.

"It was one of the most unhappy days I have spent in the 43 or 44 years I have spent working in business," he told the judge.

"Mr Tinkler had made it quite clear he would not work on the board with me.

"Having a completely dysfunctional board is clearly not going to be in the interests of the shareholders."

When questioned about share transfer and "proxy voting", he said: "I do not believe that we did act improperly."

Mr Ferguson said Stobart bosses had employed a press agency because they wanted to get their side of the story out.

He said Mr Tinkler had done the same.

Mr Ferguson said emails had been trawled after Mr Tinkler's dismissal.

He said the emails were "company property".

- The Stobart Group started up when founder Eddie Stobart went into business as an agricultural contractor in Hesket Newmarket, Cumbria, during the 1960s.

A timeline on the company website outlines the development of the business over the past half century.

It tells how Eddie Stobart Ltd was created in 1970, moved into road transport and became one of Britain's best-known brands.

Stobart had sold its transport and distribution division as part of a "strategic partial realisation" in 2014.

The timeline said the Stobart Group retained a share of the Eddie Stobart business, which operated privately.

The website says the Stobart Group is now "an infrastructure and support services business" which owned and managed a "range of key infrastructure sites".