Business
Post Office and Fujitsu accused of delaying £4m damages claim
Post Office and Fujitsu have been accused of driving up legal costs and delaying a former sub-postmaster from suing them for £4m in damages over the Horizon IT scandal, the High Court heard.
Lee Castleton OBE was pursued by the Post Office to recover £25,000 of cash it alleged was missing from his branch in Bridlington, East Yorkshire, in 2007. His two-year legal fight saw him declared bankrupt following legal costs of £321,000.
At the first hearing in his claim on Friday, the court was told that Fujitsu, the company responsible for the faulty software, had already racked up more than £700,000 in legal costs.
Mr Castleton is the first individual to take legal action against both organisations.
Friday’s preliminary hearing was about how the case should proceed.
The court heard that “hurdles” were being put in front of Mr Castleton to make his claim as “difficult, time-consuming and expensive as possible”.
His legal team allege the Post Office’s decision to pursue its 2007 civil claim against him was an “abuse of process of the court”, and that the eventual judgment was obtained by fraud.
They also all claim the state-run institution conspired with Fujitsu to pervert the course of justice by “deliberately and dishonestly” withholding evidence.
Mr Castleton was one of 555 sub-postmasters who took the Post Office to court in an epic legal battle, led by Sir Alan Bates.
They won their case in 2019 and agreed a settlement but they never received proper compensation because the money they received was largely swallowed up by the huge costs to fund their case.
Mr Castleton wants that settlement to be set aside, alleging it was fraudulently obtained involving “sharp practice” by the Post Office.
Both Post Office and Fujitsu are yet to file a defence to Mr Castleton’s claims but called for his case to be split into two trials.
They want a court to decide if the settlement agreement bars the former sub-postmaster from proceeding with his own individual claim and if it does, this would “dispose of the proceedings in their entirety”. Doing it this way, they argued, would save time and money.
But in written arguments on behalf of Mr Castleton, the court heard the reverse would be true and that his claim was of the “utmost simplicity.”
His barrister, Paul Marshall KC, rejected the need for a separate trial.
But at the conclusion of the hearing, Mr Justice Trower and Judge Francesca Kaye ordered for the trials to be split in two, saying they would give the reasons for their decision at a later date.
The Post Office, which is owned by the government, said it had made every effort to engage with Mr Castleton to overturn his civil judgment and remained more than willing to do so, but it did not accept his current claim was “a good one and it had a duty to its shareholders to defend it”.
Mr Castleton wants “vindication” that the judgement against him, that had “blighted” his and his family’s life for 20 years, was obtained dishonestly by the Post Office and for a judge to decide what he is owed.
Speaking outside of court, Mr Castleton told the BBC: “We know what we need to do and we’re very happy where we are.
“We’ll get a defence and that’s what we’ve been waiting for. The facts aren’t going to change. It’s just the money.”
President Donald Trump raised hopes of an agreement between the US and Iran after days of escalation.
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Retailers braced for the effects of the Middle East conflict have urged the Government to cut domestic costs to help them keep prices down for consumers.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said four in five people (80%) feared the Middle East conflict would push up food prices, and called on the Government to help by easing pressure on businesses from higher national insurance, packaging levies, new regulations, and business energy charges.
The BRC said retailers were already absorbing “significant” additional costs from the conflict including rising energy and shipping costs, with knock-on effects for fertiliser, manufacturing and logistics.
It warned those costs would inevitably filter through to the till over the coming months.
But it said the Middle East was only part of the picture, and retailers had absorbed £6.5 billion in extra employment costs from rising national insurance contributions and the national living wage, alongside a new packaging tax costing £1.6 billion.
Meanwhile, more regulatory “burdens” were imminent, including guaranteed hours provisions under the Employment Rights Act and the proposed reformulation of thousands of food lines under the new nutrient profiling model.
A survey for the BRC found 73% of people expect the Middle East conflict to raise the price of products other than food, while 81% are worried about rising energy bills, 76% about petrol and diesel, and 68% about tax increases.
Food retailers met Chancellor Rachel Reeves in early April and called for the removal of energy policy levies, network charges and system fees that now make up between 57% and 65% of a typical business electricity bill.
They also asked for the introduction of the updated nutrient profiling model for food and drink to be delayed, and for a review of the triple packaging levy, forecast to cost retailers more than £2 billion a year.
BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said: “The Middle East conflict is driving up costs across the supply chain and families are right to be concerned.
“But not every pressure bearing down on retailers comes from the Gulf. Higher national insurance, packaging levies, new regulations, and business energy charges are all domestic policy decisions, made in Westminster, and they can be addressed there.
“Such action by government would help retailers to keep prices affordable for households.
“Other governments are already acting. Germany has reduced electricity costs for businesses by moving levies off bills and EU leaders are actively discussing similar responses to this crisis.
“The UK should be moving in the same direction, not treating global instability as cover for inaction on costs of its own making.
“Retailers are working hard to hold prices down, but they cannot do it alone.
“Every cost government chooses not to address is a cost that will find its way into someone’s shopping basket. That is a political choice, and it is one ministers still have time to change – but the window to act is closing.”
The Lucid logo is shown at the Los Angeles Auto show on Nov. 20, 2025.
Mike Blake | Reuters
DETROIT — Lucid Group suspended its vehicle production guidance for the year as its incoming CEO evaluates the all-electric vehicle manufacturer’s business operations, including the potential for lower output of EVs.
The company on Tuesday also said it needs to lower its “elevated inventory” of vehicles, which for automakers has historically meant decreasing or idling vehicle production.
A company spokesman told CNBC that there is currently no plan to idle its sole U.S. plant in Arizona, but incoming CEO Silvio Napoli said he is continuing to evaluate Lucid’s business.
“An essential objective over time is to build a more cost-efficient company, one that progresses in funding its own growth. That means being rigorous in delivering our commitments,” Napoli said Tuesday on Lucid’s quarterly results call with investors. “In simple words, this means making clear choices on where to invest and, just as importantly, where not to.”
Napoli said he plans to review the company’s operations over the next several weeks before updating investors on the company’s guidance when Lucid reports its second-quarter results at an unspecified date.
The company’s prior production guidance was between 25,000 to 27,000 units in 2026. Lucid executives said plans for cost-cutting, autonomous vehicles with Uber and Nuro, and the company’s “path to profitability” outlined in an investor day in March remain intact.
Lucid has produced roughly 3,200 more vehicles than it has sold since 2024, according to its annual production and deliveries. That includes a difference of roughly 2,000 units last year and 2,400 vehicles during the first quarter of 2026.
The pulled guidance occurred as the company reported first-quarter results that were in line with preliminary results released by the company a month ago, but that still significantly missed Wall Street’s expectations.
“We ended the quarter with elevated inventory that we expect to convert to revenue and cash as deliveries normalize, while maintaining alignment between production and sales cadence. Our focus is on disciplined execution — driving structural cost improvements, managing capital efficiently, and improving operating leverage as we scale,” Lucid CFO Taoufiq Boussaid said in a statement.
Here’s how the company performed in the first quarter compared with average estimates compiled by LSEG:
- Loss per share: $3.46 vs. a loss of $2.64 expected
- Revenue: $282.5 million vs. $440.4 million expected
The company’s revenue increased roughly 20% year-over-year but was far lower than the 87.4% jump analysts were expecting, according to LSEG.
The all-electric vehicle maker said a seat supplier issue “significantly affected” deliveries of its crucial Lucid Gravity SUV during the quarter that resulted in a stop-sale of the vehicle due to safety concerns.
Boussaid said the seat issue caused a more than $200 million revenue impairment during the first quarter.
Lucid produced 5,500 vehicles and delivered 3,093 vehicles in the first quarter of 2026.
The automaker, which is heavily backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, said it has sufficient liquidity through the second half of 2027. It ended the first quarter with approximately $4.7 billion, including a recent capital raise and delayed draw term loan provided by PIF.
Lucid on Tuesday said production of a new vehicle plant in Saudi Arabia continues despite the ongoing war in nearby Iran. The company said it has not experienced any significant interruptions to the facility other than some delays in shipping.
The company also said it is adjusting its production reporting to count vehicles once they complete the company’s “factory gating process,” which includes vehicles that may not be completely built and are sent to operations elsewhere for completion.
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