North and north-east MPs have backed a renewed call for action to be taken on “excessive” delivery charges in rural areas.
Former Highland Council leader Drew Hendry is urging the UK Government to do more to protect rural residents from the “manifestly unfair” discrimination.
He has tabled an early day motion at Westminster as a means of highlighting the issue. It has been signed by several of his SNP colleagues including Ian Blackford (Ross, Skye and Lochaber), Angus MacNeil (Western Isles), Paul Monaghan (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) and Brendan O’Hara (Argyll and Bute).
It supports calls for retailers to end “excessive delivery surcharges and to offer delivery by Royal Mail when this is the cheaper option”.
The Inverness MP said: “In this day and age, more and more people are turning to online shopping when making their purchases.
“However, those in more rural areas, such as the Highlands, are being forced into paying excessive charges for the delivery of items. This is manifestly unfair.
“This has been a long running concern for my constituents and more needs to be done to protect residents in rural areas from being unfairly discriminated against by some online sellers due to their place of residence.”
He also asked Commons leader Chris Grayling for a debate on the matter during the weekly business statement yesterday.
He said new regulations – which came into force in 2014 – had gone some way to highlighting the issue, but insisted more work was urgently needed.
“Consumers of Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey should automatically get the choice of the cheapest delivery option and the UK government needs to find ways to enforce this,” he added.
Mr Hendry said Highland Council trading standards service began an enforcement project in 2011 after research carried out by Citizens Advice Scotland showed those in the Highlands are charged an extra £15 on average.