Revealed: how Vodafone ‘left store managers with huge debts and fines during pandemic’

Franchise operators pursuing £120m legal claim say they feared losing their livelihoods or homes, with some having suicidal thoughts

• ‘They left me in ruin’: Vodafone store operators tell of the impact of commission cuts

Vodafone “unjustly enriched” itself at the expense of scores of vulnerable small business owners by slashing commissions to franchisees running the mobile phone group’s high street stores, according to allegations filed on Tuesday in the high court.

A group of 62 of about 150 Vodafone franchise operators – some of whom said they had had suicidal thoughts because of the pressure exerted by the telecoms group – say the resulting personal debts have prompted them to join a £120m-plus legal claim against the company. Vodafone is valued at more than £18bn on the London Stock Exchange and has just been granted regulatory approval to create the UK’s largest mobile phone operator by merging with its rival Three.