Ruling made in lawsuit against BT which sought compensation for millions of customers
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BT has successfully defended a £1.3bn class action lawsuit alleging the telecoms giant had "disproportionately overcharged" its landline customers. On Thursday, a judgment from the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) found that claims against BT failed, with the tribunal declaring that "overall" the prices that BT set "were not unfair, and therefore there was no abuse of dominant position".
The collective lawsuit, led by Collective Action on Land Lines (Call) founder Justin Le Patourel, demanded compensation between £300 to £400 for each of more than three million BT customers, depending on the length of their contract. Following the decision, BT does not have to pay out any compensation. Back in 2017, regulator Ofcom took BT to task, claiming it had over-stepped the mark by overcharging millions of landline users since 2015.
At the time, BT agreed to reduce the price of its landlines. Nonetheless, Mr Le Patourel decided to take the issue to CAT. He contended that BT owed it to their many vulnerable customers to refund what was due. A BT spokesperson responded to the tribunal's findings: "Today the Competition Appeal Tribunal handed down its judgment in the case of Justin Le Patourel v BT Group plc in which the CAT has dismissed the claim and found that BT Group’s conduct did not breach competition law. We take our responsibilities to all of our customers very seriously and welcome today’s ruling.".
Mr Le Patourel said: "While I am pleased that the Tribunal has recognised BT’s dominant position in the market, and the significant and persistent nature of its excessive pricing, I am disappointed that it did not agree that these prices were unfair.
