The BBC is being sued for £1.2million over another Panorama episode amid Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the corporation.
Delivery company Evri is taking legal action against the broadcaster over the documentary, Evri: Where’s My Parcel, which aired last December.
The firm claimed it caused them “serious financial loss” and is suing the BBC for libel over a 15-minute segment of the 30-minute-long episode.
Lawyers have argued the firm suffered legal repurcussions and reputational harm as a result of the corporation’s actions.
Court documents revealed that Evri’s legal team are arguing that the segment falsely claims it “deployed exploitative business practices”.
The lawyers also challenged claims that Evri misled Parliament by informing MPs that the firm did not underpay couriers.
The company delivers around 900 million parcels each year, but this business was damaged by the “seriousness” of the allegations, Hugh Tomlinson KC said.
He said: “In its natural and ordinary meaning and in context, the segment meant and was understood to mean that the claimant deployed exploitative business practices designed to reduce pay for its couriers, with the result that they are regularly unlawfully paid less than the national minimum wage; and misled Parliament by providing false categorical assurances that couriers were not unlawfully paid below the minimum wage.”
The firm suffered legal repurcussions and reputational harm, lawyers said
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The Panorama episode is still available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
Its synopsis reads that Panorama “goes undercover to investigate the pressures of working in one delivery unit, speaking to unhappy customers as well as couriers who say they struggle to make a living”.
But Evri has railed against the claims and vowed that they deliver a fast, reliable and cost-effective service.
Evri said it made losses of £1.1million worth of prospective contracts, in addition to other sums.
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Evri is taking the BBC to court over libel claims
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As a result, the firm came to target the BBC for “special damages” coming to £1.2million.
Mr Tomlinson said the 30-minute episode caused the loss of “prospective contracts which would have generated profits, presently estimated at £1,164,434 pre-tax”.
He continued: “In each case, either the prospective client has referred to the broadcast as the reason why it did not wish to contract with the claimant, or it is to be inferred from all of the circumstances that the reason that the contract was not pursued was due to publication of the segment.”
Evir’s management forked out around £32,843 on attempting to explain to customers why the allegations laid against the company in the documentary were wrong.
The lawyer added: “It is highly likely that the claimant’s recruitment of couriers will be impacted on the basis that they will believe that they will not or cannot guarantee that they would earn the minimum wage if they worked with the claimant.
“This impact is highly likely to lead to future financial losses.”
The broadcaster said it does not comment on active legal proceedings and has not yet filed a defence against the allegations.
The latest allegations laid against the BBC will join the likes of those from the US President, who is in the process of suing the embattled corporation for defamation.