Fury as delivery charges ‘rocket’

Rising rates hit region

Shoppers in the Highlands and Islands and Moray are being hammered by rising delivery charges despite efforts to force retailers to reduce fees attached to items transported north.

Research by the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Spice) found the total annual cost of surcharges rose by nearly £1 million in Inverness and Nairn, and by hundreds of thousands of pounds elsewhere between 2017 and 2018.

The findings, revealed yesterday, follow the Fair Delivery Charges campaign,

“Eye-watering surcharges imposed without rhyme or reason”

which has experienced some success in persuading firms to reduce levies for deliveries to north homes and has support across the political spectrum.

Moray MSP Richard Lochhead launched the crusade after being contacted by scores of outraged constituents and commissioned the recent research. He called the result of the study “hugely frustrating” given the work that has gone into eradicating the problem.

Mr Lochhead said: “Consumers in rural areas quite often rely on online shopping and they should not have to put up with the eye-watering surcharges that are so often imposed by retailers without rhyme or reason. Shoppers in Scotland were forced to fork out over £38m last year, up from £36m the year before, on parcel delivery surcharges simply because of where they live, and these latest figures show what that means for people in my constituency and across the north.”

Charges went up from £13.98m to £14.68m in Inverness and Nairn, from £3.77m to £3.95m in Argyll and Bute and from £3.86m to £4.05m in Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross.

In Moray, where residents have complained about charges applied to scores of items ranging from crates of beer to mobility scooters, the cost rose by £120,000 from £2.28m to £2.4m. Mr Lochhead held talks with UK Government Minister for Consumers, Kelly Tolhurst, at the end of November.

The SNP politician deemed the meeting constructive but said the new research showed “urgent” action was needed.

He added: “Thanks to the campaign, the authorities have begun to take action but with the cost of these surcharges continuing to rise as more and more people shop online, we really need to see a more urgent approach to addressing this issue.

“It is time for the UK Government to consider what more can be done, given it is responsible for regulation, otherwise the parcel delivery surcharge bill in Moray and across Scotland is just going to get higher and higher.”

The Advertising Standards Agency pledged to crack down on the practice last month, and has sent an enforcement notice to hundreds of online retailers which it says has been “very successful” in getting them to comply with its rules.

A spokesman said: “Every retailer has complied barring one, so we removed their Google search ads as a sanction.”

Few issues provoke quite such a united front of fury among our readers from all corners than rip-off delivery charges. The battle to be rid of this blatant discrimination against our region has been hard-fought and unrelenting. Victories have been won along the way. A crackdown on the very worst of the traders – those not even open about their unfairness – has had some success.

Several big-name firms have been shamed by campaigners into mending their ways.

So the frustration and disappointment of everyone involved at seeing this outrageous levy not fall but soar is entirely to be expected.

Another £1 million a year being squeezed from consumers for no better reason than where they live is intolerable.

But it must not be seen as any kind of defeat – far from it.

Rather, it is a stark illustration of why the push for change is so important.

When concerns were first raised, online sales were an upstart in the retail sector.

As they become the norm for many – not least those in remote areas – the overall cost will inevitably rise for some time, even as progress is made.

So it remains an uphill struggle but a worthy one.

That is why we will continue to lend our strongest possible support until the injustice is ended.

“Firms have been shamed by campaigners like Richard Lochhead into mending their ways”