DAF Trucks must pay BT and Royal Mail millions of pounds in damages after the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) found that the manufacturer had overcharged the companies whilst involved in an illegal pricing cartel, writes Chris Tindall.
The landmark ruling is the first judgment by a UK court concerning a European truck builder accused of price-fixing between 1997 and 2011. In 2016, the European Commission determined that DAF, MAN, Daimler, Iveco and Volvo/Renault had colluded on pricing and gross price increases for medium and heavy trucks in the European Economic Area.
Both Royal Mail and BT argued that they had purchased or leased large volumes of trucks from DAF during the infringement period and that they had been overcharged as a result of the manufacturer’s infringement.
DAF Trucks declined to comment.
