Government's PPE 'VIP lane' that was used to hand out massive contracts to firms during the first wave of the pandemic was UNLAWFUL, judges rule VIP lane was reserved for referrals from MPs, ministers and senior officials Saw vast sums paid to pest control firm PestFix and hedge fund Ayanda Capital Over half of the money 'was wasted' on equipment that was 'useless' to the NHS By Rory Tingle, Home Affairs Correspondent For Mailonline Published: 11:20 GMT, 12 January 2022 | Updated: 11:35 GMT, 12 January 2022 108 Viewcomments The Government's 'VIP lane' to award massive contracts for the supply of PPE to two firms during the first wave of the pandemic was unlawful, the High Court ruled today. The lane was reserved for referrals from MPs, ministers and senior officials, and saw nearly £600million paid by the Department of Health to pest control firm PestFix and the hedge fund Ayanda Capital. Campaigners said equipment was bought from these two companies in April and May 2020 without proper technical checks, at inflated prices, due to officials 'prioritising suppliers because of who they knew, not what they could deliver'. The Good Law Project and EveryDoctor argued that 'well over half' of the approximately £595million spent with PestFix and Ayanda Capital was 'wasted' on PPE which did not meet technical standards for use in the NHS. 'The outcome of all of this was a truly tragic waste of public money,' Jason Coppel QC, representing the groups, told the court. Mrs Justice O'Farrell backed the campaigners in a remote judgement at 10.30am today. The PPE 'VIP lane' was reserved for referrals from MPs, ministers and senior officials DHSC had contested the claim, telling the court it 'wholeheartedly' rejected the case against it. The department's barrister Michael Bowsher QC said the VIP lane, also known as the high-priority lane (HPL), was rational and resulted in a 'large number of credible offers' in an environment where PPE deals often failed within 'minutes'. 'The goal here was to try and get as much of the right PPE in as quickly as possible. That was the simple point,' Mr Bowsher said. A report by the National Audit Office previously revealed how officials signed contracts for hundreds of thousands of facemasks which turned out to be unusable – wasting hundreds of millions of pounds. Hundreds of millions of pounds of public money was showered on companies with connections to senior politicians Share or comment on this article: All rights reserved for this news site (dailymail) and under his responsibility