Tesco has filed a claim for damages into the competition appeal tribunal against Scania for what it said were losses suffered as a result of “unlawful and anti-competitive behaviour” regarding HGVs.

According to a summary of its claim, the supermarket giant said the infringements of competition law included agreements or concerted practices relating to “pricing and gross price increases in order to align gross prices in the European Economic Area, coordination of the timing for the introduction of emission technologies and coordination of the passing on to customers of the costs of the emissions technologies, between 1997 and 2011”.

Tesco said it was relying on a decision by the European Commission (EC) in 2017, which imposed a fine of €880.5m on Scania AB, Scania CV AB and Scania Deutschland GmbH, after the manufacturer refused to settle an antitrust case of which Daimler, MAN, Iveco, DAF and Volvo/Renault had acknowledged their involvement.

The EC also found that Scania had broken EU competition rules, as it had colluded for 14 years with the other truck manufacturers on truck pricing and on passing on the costs of new technologies to meet stricter emission rules.

Scania lost its appeal in 2022.

It then brought a further appeal against the decision before the European Court of Justice, which was dismissed by the General Court to the Court of Justice in February this year.

Both Tesco and Scania said they would not comment on “ongoing legal proceedings”.

Separately, the RHA has been working with law firm Backhouse Jones to get operators compensation from the cartel members.

The case represents an action on behalf of all truck operators whether they are RHA members or not.

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