Three directors disqualified after lead roofing cartel probe

Three directors have been disqualified for a total of more than 13 years after they broke competition law by forming a cartel in the construction industry.

Two of the UK’s largest rolled lead suppliers were fined more than £9m by the Competition and Markets Authority last year for taking part in an illegal cartel.

Associated Lead Mills (ALM) and BLM British Lead admitted to colluding on prices and sharing the market for rolled lead, a key roofing product.

The Hertfordshire-based firms, which together contribute a sizeable chunk of UK rolled lead supplies, admitted their roles earlier in 2020 and have been told to pay fines of £1.5m and £8m respectively.

Jocelyn Campbell from BLM, and Graham Hudson and Maurice Sherling, both from ALM, have all been banned with Campbell disqualified for six-and-a-half years, Hudson for four and Sherling for three.

The CMA said Campbell sought to conceal his communications with competitor businesses by using a different mobile phone from his main one in the period from December 2016 until the launch of the investigation the following July. The discovery was made when the CMA seized the phone during its probe.

The watchdog added Sherling admitted to suspecting ALM was breaching competition law and receiving sensitive information from Campbell but doing nothing to stop it.

Campbell’s ban starts later this month with those for Hudson and Sherling beginning at the end of May.