Crackdown on shady firms who hide rip-off fees for supplying rural areas

COMPANIES charging rip-off delivery fees to parts of rural Scotland will have to state what their surcharges are or face penalties.

New rules announced by the official advertising watchdog will require companies to honour the delivery charges as they advertise them.

The move comes after complaints about firms charging extortionate rates to deliver to parts of the UK, including the Highlands and Islands.

In one case highlighted by the BY TORCUIL CRICHTON Westminster Editor Daily Record, Matalan were charging customers in the Dundee, Perth, Aberdeen, Inverness and Paisley postcode areas £108 to deliver medium to large-sized goods

A crackdown by the Advertising Standards Authority on companies who make misleading claims over parcel deliveries has been welcomed by campaigners.

Any claim of “UK delivery” will now include all parts of the UK, including the Scottish Isles, and surcharges will be banned if such a claim is made.

Companies have to take immediate action to ensure their advertising complies with the new guidance or face the possibility of legal action by trading standards.

ASA chief executive Guy Parker said: “Companies must honour the delivery claims they’re making or stop making them. It’s simply not fair to mislead people about whether parcels can be delivered to them, or how much it will cost.”

Richard Lochhead MSP, whose Fair Delivery Charges campaign called for tougher action, said the move was “a significant first step”.

The Moray SNP MSP submitted a dossier of 124 firms who had failed to state charges for delivery to parts of Scotland to ASA. All will now be issued with the enforcement notice.

He said: “I’m sure people living across Scotland will be pleased to see companies taken to task and told to stop advertising free delivery when, in many cases and for many customers, the reality is very different.”