The Guardian: Royal Mail owner faces GBP900m class action claim for ‘abusing dominant position’

[Basildon Bond]

International Distribution Services served with action over sending out ‘bulk mail’, including bank statements and weekly magazines

Alex Lawson | Thu 20 Jun 2024 16.41 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/business/ar ... -bulk-mail

The owner of Royal Mail is facing a near £900m class action claim over accusations it abused its “dominant position” in the market for sending out bulk mail, including bank statements and weekly magazines.

International Distribution Services (IDS) has been served with an £878m action by a newly formed company that said it represents an estimated 290,000 customers who claim they were overcharged as a result of Royal Mail’s behaviour.

Bulk mail is typically sent by businesses and organisations including retailers, utility companies, charities and publishers. It includes council tax and bank statements, charity fundraising appeals, weekly magazines and energy bills.

The action, brought by Bulk Mail Claim Limited, argues that businesses and organisations that bought bulk mail services after 2014 suffered owing to “anti-competitive” behaviour by Royal Mail. It argues that Royal Mail prevented competition, pushing up prices for the collection, sorting and delivery of letters in bulk.

The class action comes as the billionaire Czech energy tycoon Daniel Křetínský’s EP Group attempts to buy IDS in a £3.57bn deal.

In 2018, the industry regulator, Ofcom, fined Royal Mail £50m after it found the company “broke the law by abusing its dominant position in bulk mail delivery”. Ofcom said “Royal Mail’s behaviour was unacceptable and it denied postal users the potential benefits that come from effective competition”.

Royal Mail has unsuccessfully attempted to appeal against Ofcom’s decision. It faces a £600m claim, separate from the class action, brought by Whistl, which scaled back its operations in 2015 with the loss of 2,000 jobs. That case is expected to reach the high court next year.

Robin Aaronson of Bulk Mail Claim Ltd said: “Where there has been an abuse of dominant position, as has occurred in this case, it is important that those suffering loss are able to obtain redress.

“A collective claim is the only fair and efficient form of redress in this case, given that there are hundreds of thousands of affected customers and it would be commercially unviable for them to bring individual proceedings.”

Andrew Wanambwa, a partner at Lewis Silkin, the law firm aiding the claimants, said: “Royal Mail abused its dominant position, resulting in hundreds of thousands of bulk mail customers being overcharged. The purpose of this claim is to hold Royal Mail accountable for its actions and secure compensation for affected customers.”

Royal Mail said: “We confirm that we have received an application for a collective proceedings order from an entity called Bulk Mail Claim Ltd which we consider to be without merit and we will defend it robustly.”

The class action claim has been filed with the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal.

[NWpostie]

It's more the other way the firms is exploiting Royal Mail for its final mile service after charging customers a premium passing it on to RM and keeping the profit difference instead of delivering it themselves, now they're trying it on for a bit more extra cash, I hope it fails and they get billed for all legal fees, chances are they will simply close down the business so the debt dies with it and set up a new one in a different name.

Cynical moi ?

[tramssirhc]

Spare a thought for all the Gordon Gekko's out there.

[Tman]

I'd be more concerned for all those who believe the Guardian to be a reliable source of information.

[LouBarlow]

I'd be more concerned for all those who believe the Guardian to be a reliable source of information.

As opposed to? Where should we be looking for reputable news sources?

[Tman]

"Reputable" usually means "one that echo's my views", and any paper who would employ such as Afua Hirsch, Polly Toynbee and Owen Jones is anything but impartial.

[clashcityrocker]

It's more the other way the firms is exploiting Royal Mail for its final mile service after charging customers a premium passing it on to RM and keeping the profit difference instead of delivering it themselves,

They did start delivering it themselves.
They were about to vastly increase the areas they covered.
Royal Mail screwed them over .- that's why RM were fined £50 million.
That's why Whistl are suing them for £600 million.

Royal Mail have already lost the argument.

[richietns]

It's more the other way the firms is exploiting Royal Mail for its final mile service after charging customers a premium passing it on to RM and keeping the profit difference instead of delivering it themselves,

They did start delivering it themselves.
They were about to vastly increase the areas they covered.
Royal Mail screwed them over .- that's why RM were fined £50 million.
That's why Whistl are suing them for £600 million.

Royal Mail have already lost the argument.

Its ironic that RM dont want the letters side anymore.

[Mr Rush]

It's more the other way the firms is exploiting Royal Mail for its final mile service after charging customers a premium passing it on to RM and keeping the profit difference instead of delivering it themselves,

They did start delivering it themselves.
They were about to vastly increase the areas they covered.
Royal Mail screwed them over .- that's why RM were fined £50 million.
That's why Whistl are suing them for £600 million.

Royal Mail have already lost the argument.

Competition is where you race me to the finish line, not ride my back till we reach the 90m mark. This is what actual competition looks like... and how efficient it is too!

[LouBarlow]

"Reputable" usually means "one that echo's my views", and any paper who would employ such as Afua Hirsch, Polly Toynbee and Owen Jones is anything but impartial.

Still waiting on alternatives.

[Tman]

And you'll wait for a long time then. My point was about impartiality rather than the same old same old "you read this, I read that" nonsense so beloved of some.

[LouBarlow]

And you'll wait for a long time then. My point was about impartiality rather than the same old same old "you read this, I read that" nonsense so beloved of some.

So you don’t rely on any news organisations? How do you know what is going on in the world? I think it is fine to accept some news at face value, no matter where you read it. A story about a class action suit isn’t exactly a story open to political bias, especially when RM have commented on it, thus confirming it, and it has appeared on multiple news sites, covering a wide political agenda.

Not everything is a conspiracy.

[Tman]

Indeed not, but much news output (even from the venerable BBC) is biased in some form or another, possibly even unintentionally in some cases.
But as previously said, any paper which has those three journo's as staffers is clearly intentionally and unequivocally Left-leaning, so it's bias (and intended market) is obvious.

[LouBarlow]

Indeed not, but much news output (even from the venerable BBC) is biased in some form or another, possibly even unintentionally in some cases.
But as previously said, any paper which has those three journo's as staffers is clearly intentionally and unequivocally Left-leaning, so it's bias (and intended market) is obvious.

The key difference is the three you mention do not report on the news. They contribute opinion pieces. None of those are reporting from Gaza or even contributing to election stories for example. They are columnists at best not news reporters.

[Tman]

So you're saying that people don't take theirs columns at face value, or as news or information?
If that's the case then why not have Farage or the booby Johnson as contributors?