North MPs have launched a fresh bid to finally end unfair charges for deliveries to the Highlands – with a call for the creation of a new “People’s Delivery Guarantee”.
The proposal would introduce a recognised quality mark for retailers who do not hike their fees to send goods to the region.
The new guarantee would also ban outlets from advertising that their delivery charges are “free” within the UK mainland if they include exemptions for certain postcodes at the same time.
Drew Hendry, SNP MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, has tabled the plan in a new motion at the House of Commons, and is due to raise it at showdown talks with Business Minister Nick Boles.
The move has already been backed by fellow Highland MPs Ian Blackford, Angus MacNeil, Paul Monaghan and Brendan O’Hara.
A Citizens Advice Scotland report last year found that one million rural Scots were still being hit with unfair delivery charges and that fees charged by retailers were rising.
Mr Hendry said that one of his constituents was asked to pay £90 for the delivery of a mobile phone because Inverness was not considered to be part of the UK mainland, while another shopper was asked to fork out an extra £20 to have a power tool posted to his address in Nairn.
“People in the Highlands and islands and other rural areas are still paying excessive delivery charges and inevitably buying goods over the internet will increase, which in turn means that consumers in this constituency will be penalised further,” he said.
“This has to change and I am committed to working with all parties to address this.
“That is why I am calling for a ‘Peoples Delivery Guarantee’, action that pulls together all the various aspects of delivery charges and guarantees that that consumers are not mislead on claims of, for example ‘free delivery to UK mainland,’ only to be told during or after purchase that this isn’t true.
“Consumers, regardless of where they live should also have the right to the lowest possible delivery cost, so I am also calling for that right as standard.”