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Vodafone actions across UK

anon@indymedia.org (Concerned of Notts) | 31.10.2010 13:25

On Wednesday, activists in London blockaded Vodafone's flagship store on Oxford Street, in protest against the company's avoidance of a £6bn tax bill. This action has inspired campaigners throughout the country and sparked off a wave of anti-Vodafone actions. But nothing yet in Nottingham.

On Thursday, campaigners in Leeds managed to shutdown all 3 of the company's stores in the city. On Saturday, a day of action saw stores targetted across the UK including Glasgow, Edinburgh, central London, Brixton, Hastings, Manchester, Worthing, Bristol and Brighton.

Vodafone has been targetted after it emerged that an agreement reached with Her Majesty' Revenue and Customs (HMRC) had allowed the company to avoid a tax bill, which Private Eye estimates is around £6bn, which could go a long way to defraying the £7bn benefits cuts pushed by the coalition govenment.

Even if the £6n figure is a vast overestimate, this doesn't get them off the hook, the company has admitted in its annual report that it had provisioned against £2.2 billion "in respect of the potential UK corporation tax exposure" at 31st March 2010, suggesting that even they think the £1.25bn they've agreed to pay is a vast underestimate.

So far, despite a burgeoning anti-cuts movement in the city, Vodafone hasn't received any hassle in Nottingham, which is a surprise as protesters are hardly short of targets. Nottingham has 3 Vodafone stores:

  • Ground Floor Unit 43 No 156 The Victoria Centre Nottingham, NG1 3QF
  • "Nottingham Experience," 8-10 Clumber Street, Nottingham, NG1 3GA
  • 2-4 Albert Street (opposite St Peter's Church), Nottingham, NG1 7DA

Elsewhere in Nottinghamshire, there are further 2 stores:

  • Worksop, 68 Bridge Place, Worksop, S80 1J
  • Mansfield, 44 The Square (unit 47). Four Seasons Centre, Mansfield, NG18 1SU

Let's not let the bastards think they've got away easy here. We are currently witnessing an assault on the poorest and most vulnerable sections of our society, waged by a government of public schoolboys and millionaires who are at the same time giving their millionaire buddies get tax breaks. They only call it class war when we fight back. So what are we waiting for?


anon@indymedia.org (Concerned of Notts)
- http://nottingham.indymedia.org.uk/articles/630