Delivery firm Evri is suing the BBC for about £1.2 million in damages, alleging a Panorama documentary caused it “serious financial loss”, according to High Court documents.Evri is suing the corporation for libel over a 15-minute segment of a 29-minute documentary titled Evri: Where’s My Parcel?, which was braodcast on December 15 last year.In court documents setting out the company’s claim, barristers for Evri claim that the segment wrongly suggests it “deployed exploitative business practices” and misled Parliament by falsely stating it did not underpay its couriers. Evri denies these claims.Lawyers say the broadcast led to the loss of prospective contracts worth about £1.1 million as well as other sums, leading it to seek “special damages” of around £1.2 million.The company is also seeking “general damages” and an injunction preventing the BBC from repeating the claims.The BBC, which is yet to file a defence to the legal action, has said it does not comment on ongoing legal proceedings.Evri is suing the corporation for libel over a 15-minute segment of a 29-minute documentary (Evri/PA)In court documents setting out Evri’s claim, Hugh Tomlinson KC said that Evri delivers around 900 million parcels a year, but that the “seriousness of the allegations” made in the segment had caused harm to its reputation and financial loss.He said: “In its natural and ordinary meaning and in context, the segment meant and was understood to mean that the claimant deployed exploitative business practices designed to reduce pay for its couriers, with the result that they are regularly unlawfully paid less than the national minimum wage; and misled Parliament by providing false categorical assurances that couriers were not unlawfully paid below the minimum wage.”The documentary remains available online, with a description stating that Panorama “goes undercover to investigate the pressures of working in one delivery unit, speaking to unhappy customers as well as couriers who say they struggle to make a living.”The description continues: “Evri disputes these claims and says it provides a fast, reliable and cost-effective delivery service.“It also says its couriers earn more than the national minimum wage.”Mr Tomlinson continued that the segment caused Evri to lose “prospective contracts which would have generated profits, presently estimated at £1,164,434 pre-tax”.He continued: “In each case, either the prospective client has referred to the broadcast as the reason why it did not wish to contract with the claimant, or it is to be inferred from all of the circumstances that the reason that the contract was not pursued was due to publication of the segment.”Mr Tomlinson also said that Evri’s management spent an estimated £32,843 on explaining to customers and clients why the allegations in the segment were false, and giving evidence to a House of Commons committee “as a direct consequence” of the broadcast.The barrister added: “It is highly likely that the claimant’s recruitment of couriers will be impacted on the basis that they will believe that they will not or cannot guarantee that they would earn the minimum wage if they worked with the claimant. This impact is highly likely to lead to future financial losses.”A hearing in the claim is yet to take place.