• Two women tipper operators who traded as Virgin Transport
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have been forced to change their company name because Richard Branson threatened to sue.
Julia Howard and Annette Maltby-Baker say they cannot afford a court battle with the multi-millionaire Virgin founder; they are seeking advice on renaming the Manchesterbased business Vergin Transport.
They were "shocked" to receive a letter from Virgin's solicitor two weeks ago threatening legal action for "passing off": a legal .4irt.f10.6„f term for gaining commercial benefit by using a well-known brand name. However, they are not sure how customers of their tipper company could confuse their two-truck operation with Branson's airline-to-condom empire.
"We just picked the name out of the air when we launched the firm in August," says Howard. "We chose the name because neither of us had anything to do with haulage apart from our husbands being drivers; we just married into haulage."
Howard's mother remortgaged her house to pay for one of the trucks, which haul for Tarmac and Alfred McAlpine.
Virgin says it is its duty to consumers to stop other firms fooling people into thinking they are part of the Virgin Group: "That's why trade mark protection is so important," it says. "It's like someone trying to use the name Eddie Stobart."