Response to Dirty Tactics (Small Supplier)

One reason for raising this is that I thought it is about time the complaints I've been hearing privately over the years got an airing, because anti-competitive behaviour, in addition to any legal implications for the perpetrators, is in no one's long term interest.

A more personal reason is that I've been approached a number of times recently by companies asking how they can break into the UK market. That's a difficult one to answer, for reasons most readers will appreciate. Now I will be able to point them to this post and they can start to piece together an answer to the question for themselves.

As for being brave and naming names, I suspect it must be a mystery to US-based readers why this isn't happening as it certainly would on a US site. Well, you have to remember that in the UK there is no 'First Amendment' to guarantee freedom of speech and of the press and so people commenting here are rightly nervous of sticking their heads too far above the parapet.

In the UK, to 'name and shame' you have to be either foolhardy, wealthy, or an MP speaking under Parliamentary privilege. London has become known as the capital of 'libel tourism'. See Times reports here and here.