End airport shopping rip-off with new laws: ministers told
Heathrow shops decline customers who refuse to show boarding passes Shops should be forced by law to reduce their prices in airports, the retail watchdog has said, as it urged ministers to pass new legislation to end the VAT rip-off.
Boots, WH Smith and other stores claim millions in VAT discounts on items sold to passengers travelling outside the EU, but many fail to pass on the 20 per cent saving to customers.
The rip-off has drawn criticism from the Government, but Dean Dunham, the retail ombudsman, said nothing would change without further action.
"We don't have any powers to make retailers adhere because [passing on the VAT relief] is not law," the head of the dispute arbiter told BBC Radio 4.
"The Government needs to make this a law [and] say to the retailers in airp...