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May 2020

Last Updated: 06/05/2020

Harrogate firm labelled as 'disgrace for inflating prices on PPE'

by Connor Creaghan

| 06 May, 2020

A Harrogate firm has been labelled as disgraceful for selling medical face masks for up to three times the price of its competitors.

A Harrogate firm has been labelled as disgraceful for selling medical face masks for up to three times the price of its competitors.

Following a tip-off, an investigation by the Stray Ferret found that Change Mobility has been listing five masks for £17.99 - £3.60 per mask.

The masks are graded as Type II and are normally destined for care homes or hospitals to protect staff from coronavirus.

Several other websites online have listed the same Type II masks for between £1 and £2 per mask.

UKMeds sells 50 of the masks for £49.99, The Glove Club sells ten of the masks for £19.99 and Medisave sells 50 of the masks for £54.99.

The Stray Ferret took its findings to Unison and the owner of a care home in the Harrogate district.

Wendy Nichols, the branch secretary of the Unison North Yorkshire branch, told the Stray Ferret:

"I find it absolutely appalling that someone is trying to make extra money from the current crisis the country finds itself in. PPE has been difficult to secure and someone inflating the price could put at risk both residents and Unison members in care homes. It’s an absolute disgrace."

Unison Yorkshire & Humberside's head of health Tony Pearson added:

"Gowns, gloves, masks, and visors are vital in the fight to keep health and care workers safe. No-one should be looking to make a quick buck at this time of national crisis. It's wrong to hike prices and charge VAT when the government scrapped it on PPE last week."

The owner of a care home in the Harrogate district was disappointed by the price the local firm was charging:

"We are still up against a shortage of PPE in care homes. We have sourced masks from around the country and around the world but not many locally. I think that firm is charging too much. We normally pay around £2 to £2.50 for these Type II masks."

The Stray Ferret approached Change Mobility with its findings yesterday afternoon.

A spokesperson for the company told the Stray Ferret that increasing demand meant that price increases were inevitable and that it needed to update the website:

"Change Mobility is owned by Beaucare Medical and the shop is currently closed on Kings Road due to COVID19. Therefore due to the Government changes that took place on Thursday, we have concentrated on the Beaucare website amends and the Change Mobility site hasn’t been touched. This website doesn’t control stock and we are out of stock on this specific type. But I’m about to add some that we do have in stock. So feel free to check the website shortly and the Beaucare one. We are trying our utmost to not increase sell out price on PPE, but some increases are inevitable as raw materials and interest in the market is increasing demand."

Within 30 minutes the listing was marked as out of stock and reduced in price.

Change Mobility wrongly charged VAT

While investigating Change Mobility's masks, the Stray Ferret noticed that it was wrongly charging 20% VAT on top.

The government gave the sale of PPE a VAT zero-rating in effect from May 1 to July 31. Other sellers have removed VAT.

Change Mobility has since changed the listing to remove VAT.