A class action law suit seeking compensation from major European truck manufacturers for price fixing has reached 125 members.
Law firm Edwin Coe says the claim is now worth more than £100m, but is urging more businesses to join its no win no fee case.
The claims arise out of a European Commission investigation which led to DAF, Daimler (Mercedes-Benz), Iveco, MAN and Volvo/Renault all admitting to having participated in a 14-year illegal price-fixing cartel, between 1997 and 2011.
Scania initially denied any wrongdoing but, following an investigation by the European Commission, was also found to have participated in the cartel.
Collectively, the truck manufacturers were fined more than €3.8 billion (£3.4bn) – the largest ever penalty imposed by the European Commission in this type of case.
Class Action specialist, Zahira Hussain, an Edwin Coe Partner, said “We are litigating these claims in both the High Court and the Competition Appeal Tribunal and now over 125 businesses, large and small, have come to us to use our expertise in this area of the law, from small enterprises to major breweries, to renowned high street names, all of which claim losses of tens of millions pounds at the hands of the cartel.”
It is estimated that some 10 million trucks were sold across the EU during the 1997-2011 period and that each one may have been overpriced by up to £10,000 as a result of the cartel.
Hussain added: “As a result of the cartel, any business which purchased, leased or outsourced trucks weighing six tonnes or more between 1997 and 2011 is likely to have overpaid for its trucks.”
