Hays sees price fix fine cut by £25m

Recruitment group Hays' fine imposed for price-fixing was slashed by an appeals tribunal yesterday, the latest in a series of penalties from the consumer rights watchdog that have been overturned on appeal.

The Competition Appeal Tribunal reduced the fine imposed by the Office of Fair Trading to 5.88 million from 30.36m.

Hays, which specialises in placing office workers, was one of six recruitment firms fined by the OFT in September 2009 for price-fixing and the collective boycott of another company in supplying candidates to the construction industry.