In October 1996, I received an unsolicited letter of apology from Shell Chairman Dr. Chris Fay for the way we were treated by Shell. His letter arrived after Shell had already settled out of court with us for four High Court actions and one County Court case. As can be seen, the tone of the letter not meant for public consumption was totally at odds with press releases issued by Shell before and after his letter. Examples are displayed. It is therefore difficult to avoid the conclusion that the apology letter was disingenuous.
Dr Chris Fay
CHAPTER 4: Shell hypocrisy
Shell speaks out over Don Marketing
Forecourt Trader: Shell speaks out over Don
Text from article
Shell has broken its vow of silence and issued a strongly-worded statement to defend itself against what it sees as “the growing number of untrue and often offensive allegations being made by Don Marketing”.
Shell is defending legal actions which allege that it wrongfully used two forecourt promotions devised by Don Marketing. Previously, the oil company has remained silent, preferring to “resolve the dispute in the courts which Shell believes is the proper forum for a commercial dispute.
Shell unethical, incompetent and greedy
In 1996, I received an unsolicited letter of apology from Dr Chris Fay, the Chairman & Chief Executive of Shell U.K. Limited for the way we had been treated by Shell. It is printed below. This came at the climax of 3 high court actions we brought against Shell for breach of confidence and breach of contract, all settled in our favour. He was not amused by our whole page announcements in trade magazines of surveys about Shell involving over 1,000 Shell retailers in the UK.
By John Donovan
In 1996, I received an unsolicited letter of apology from Dr Chris Fay, the Chairman & Chief Executive of Shell U.K. Limited for the way we had been treated by Shell. It is printed below. This came at the climax of 3 high court actions we brought against Shell for breach of confidence and breach of contract, all settled in our favour.Â
Some time previously I had a nearly 2 hour meeting with Dr Fay at Shell Mex-House – just the two of us, served tea by his butler. He was not amused by our whole page announcements in trade magazines of surveys about Shell involving over 1,000 Shell retailers in the UK. I was a co-founder of the Shell Corporate Conscience Pressure Group, which commissioned the surveys.
Shell faces libel threat from Don
A spokesman for Shell says the company has no plans to retract the press statement.
ROYAL DUTCH SHELL TRACK RECORD IN LEGAL PROCEEDINGS WITH THE DONOVAN’S
At the commencement of the mediation, Shell Legal Director, Richard Wiseman, grandly announced that he had been asked to apologise to us on behalf of Shell UKs board of directors for the way we had been treated.