Helen Martin: Here's what to do with cowboy capitalists

Businesses in the UK seem to have a golden ticket to do as they like at the expense of customers and staff.

Sending a parcel to Inverness shouldn't cost more then sending it to Poland

If a firm can’t pay reasonable rates to its employees, it’s not viable. Living wages come before increasing profits and paying dividends to share-holders.

The alternative is a degree of slavery.

If a sales firm offers free delivery “in the UK” but more than the cost of the product itself if the customer lives in Inverness (even more than they charge for delivery to Poland) that should be seen as illegal exploitation.

At some point in our commercial history, politics and the law bowed subserviently to business in the misguided belief that competition would maintain customer care standards and boost jobs, and businesses would devise their own ethical consumer rights policies.

It should not now be a question of negotiating with such cowboys to cut fees or raise wages. Criminal charges are the answer.