More than 7800 truck operators have signed up or registered to a cartel claim to secure compensation for firms who paid artificially high prices for their vehicles.

The claim – instigated by the Road Haulage Association (RHA) and which has the largest take up in Europe – is already estimated to be worth more than £1.5bn.

It follows the 2016 European Commission ruling against the cartel – which comprised MAN, Volvo/Renault, Daimler, DAF, Iveco and Scania – which conspired to illegally fix prices of new models and bypass EU emissions testing between 1997 and 2011.

The RHA has published a legal notice ahead of a Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) hearing in June which will decide whether the Association will be appointed class representative to go ahead with its compensation claim.

The Collective Proceedings Order Application and Hearing Notice gives interested parties the opportunity to submit written comments on the RHA’s application, and/or to seek to make oral comments at the hearing.

The notice also covers a competing application brought by UK Trucks Claim Ltd.

RHA chief executive, Richard Burnett, said he was confident the RHA will get the green light to go ahead with the claim.

He said more than 6400 operators have already joined and a further 1400 are going through a sign-up process, with more joining the process every day.

“The truck cartel operated for 14 years and it’s likely its impact on truck prices continued even beyond that,” Burnett said. “We’re working tirelessly to ensure truck operators who suffered as a result get the compensation they deserve.”

Steven Meyerhoff, a director at Backhouse Jones, who leads the RHA’s external legal team, said: “If the RHA is successful in being appointed class representative, this will be the first case of its kind under the new regime and will mark an important shift towards ensuring those who suffer financial harm at the hands of competition law infringers get the redress they deserve.”

Meyerhoff urged any UK truck operators who haven’t yet signed up to the RHA’s claim to do so.

More information: https://www.rha.uk.net