Vodafone whistleblowers warned executives about plight of high street store staff

Warnings on slashed commission rates came two years before high court claim alleging telecom firm was unjustly enriching' itself

Whistleblowers warned a series of senior Vodafone executives - including the current chief executive, Margherita Della Valle - that scores of its franchised store owners faced financial ruin about two years before a high court claim accused the company of unjustly enriching" itself.

Vodafone employees made repeated complaints to their superiors about the company slashing commissions paid to the small businesses running the company's high street retail network, according to a string of current and former Vodafone employees. The cost-cutting tactics resulted in a group of 62 of about 150 Vodafone franchise operators filing a 120m-plus legal claim last December.