Evri suing BBC for £1.2m over Panorama segment after ‘serious financial loss’
Delivery firm Evri is suing the BBC for damages of around £1.2 million, alleging the Panorama documentary caused “serious financial loss”, according to High Court documents.
Evri, Evri: Where’s My Package?, published on December 15 last year. He is suing the company for libel due to a 15-minute episode of the 29-minute documentary titled.
In court documents setting out the company’s claim, Evri’s lawyers claim the department falsely claimed it “engaged in exploitative business practices” and misled Parliament by saying it failed to underpay its couriers. Evri denies these allegations.
Lawyers say the publication led to the loss of potential contracts and other sums worth around £1.1 million, leading to a claim for “special damages” of around £1.2 million.
The company is also seeking “general damages” and an injunction preventing the BBC from repeating the allegations.
The BBC, which has not yet submitted a defense in the case, said it did not comment on ongoing legal cases.
In court documents setting out Evri’s claim, Hugh Tomlinson KC said Evri delivered around 900 million parcels a year but the “seriousness of the allegations” made in the segment damaged its reputation and led to financial loss.
He said: “In its natural and ordinary sense and context, this section was and was understood to mean that the claimant had engaged in exploitative business practices designed to reduce the wages of couriers, with the result that they were regularly paid unlawfully less than the national minimum wage, and that he had misled Parliament by giving false categorical assurances that couriers were not unlawfully paid less than the minimum wage.”
The documentary continues to stream online, with a statement saying Panorama “went undercover to investigate the pressures of working in a single delivery unit, speaking to unhappy customers and couriers who said they were struggling to make ends meet”.
The statement continues: “Evri disputes these claims and says it offers a fast, reliable and cost-effective delivery service.
“He also says his couriers earn more than the national minimum wage.”
Mr Tomlinson continued that this segment caused Evri to lose out on “potential profit-generating contracts, currently estimated at £1,164,434 before tax”.
He continued: “In each case, either the potential client referred to the broadcast as the reason for his unwillingness to enter into a contract with the plaintiff, or it should appear from all the circumstances that the reason for the contract not being followed was due to the broadcast of the episode.”
Mr Tomlinson also said Evri management had spent an estimated £32,843 explaining to customers and buyers why the allegations in the episode were false and presenting evidence to a House of Commons committee “as a direct result” of the broadcast.
The lawyer added: “It is highly likely that the plaintiff’s courier recruitment was affected by the plaintiff’s belief that they could not or would not be able to guarantee that they would be able to earn the minimum wage if they worked with the plaintiff. This impact is highly likely to lead to financial losses in the future.”
A hearing has not yet been held regarding the allegation.
