Fashion retailer Asos has been dragged into the row over the high penalty charges applied by some retailers to suppliers whose vehicles deliver outside agreed times or present goods in what is deemed to be a non-compliant fashion.
MT has seen evidence from one of Asos’s suppliers listing penalties of up to £500 for a range of delivery issues including cartons not being loaded in sequential order; missing labels, packing lists or security seals; failed collections; and late bookings cancellations.
The document listing the penalties – which MT understands came into effect on 19 May – also states that Asos “reserves the right to increase the penalty charge rate with any suppliers that repeatedly do not meet our delivery compliance requirements”.
A spokeswoman for the company told MT: “I’m afraid at this moment we are unable to provide a comment… but thank you for thinking of Asos.”
Meanwhile, further evidence has emerged of fines for non-compliant deliveries at Boots, with Leicestershire distribution firm Cobley Transport reporting two recent fines for situations that appear to have been created by the retailer’s DC.
In the first, delivery of a quarter pallet to its Nottingham DC in a 7.5-tonner was rejected as the loadbed height was too low for the loading bay and staff at the DC warned that handballing the few cartons would attract a non-compliance fine.
Cobley Transport general manager Nick Marshall said the firm later returned with a larger vehicle, attracting a £250 fine for its customer for what was by then a late delivery.
In the second, also at the Nottingham site, the removal of a delivery note from a pallet by a hearing-impaired driver, who believed goods-in staff were querying the delivery, attracted another £250 fine on the basis that the pallet had been delivered without the proper documents attached.
Marshall told MT Cobley Transport had never been given any delivery parameters by Boots or by its supplier but was under pressure from its customer to pay the fines. Boots has previously declined to comment on its penalty charges.
Boots has already declined to comment on its penalty charges, telling MT recently that it was "unable to discuss any of our individual commercial agreements with our suppliers".
It remains unclear what any of the retailers so far levying such fines are basing them on or what total revenues are changing hands. Jack Semple, director of policy at the RHA, however, told MT this week that the haulage industry "is seeing far too many examples of large companies ruthlessly exploiting their market position in ways that are grossly unreasonable".
- MT would like to hear from any other operators who have experienced similar problems. Please email chris.druce@roadtransport.com or call 020 8912 2158.
