LONDON: November 14, 2017. UK law firm Collyer Bristow has established a £100 million class action for truck operators that may have been overcharged by members of a pan-European price fixing cartel.

In a July 2016 ruling, the European Commission (EC) fined truck manufacturers MAN, Volvo/Renault, Daimler (Mercedes), Iveco and DAF a total of €2.93 billion for unlawfully coordinated prices, the timing of the introduction of Euro III to Euro VI emission technologies, and passing the costs on to their customers.

Two months later the EC fined Scania €880 million for participating in the cartel that ran from at least 1997 to 2011 and covered new trucks ranging in size from six to over 16 tonnes.

According to Collyer Bristow any hauliers, retailer, manufacturer, construction firm or courier company operating in the European Economic Area that suffered financially as a result of the cartel is entitled to compensation.

"Firms that acquired new medium or heavy-duty trucks between 1997 and 2011 almost certainly have a case for compensation, whether they bought the trucks outright, on hire purchase, or leased them directly from a manufacturer or from a supplier," said the company's head of Competition Law Stephen Critchley.

"As well as fixing prices, the truck cartel conspired on the timing of new emissions technologies, so it is possible that fleet owners and users incurred extra running costs, too. The compensation claims could run to billions of pounds," he added.

Collyer Bristow said it would be paid based on the outcome of the litigation and by funds provided by Vannin Capital that would also take a share of individual claimants' eventual compensation.