The family of Adrian Howe, a former Vodafone employee found drowned in 2018 shortly before his new franchise was due to open, are campaigning for a new "Adrian's law" to protect franchisees, arguing his death might have been prevented had such regulation existed. His daughter, Kirsty-Anne Holmes, wants a governing body to oversee franchising contracts and stop firms such as Vodafone imposing terms like personal guarantees, and has raised the proposal with the Department for Business and Trade.

Howe's family believe he took his own life after concluding his franchising deal would be financially ruinous; he had been due to open a store in Irvine but was told he must also take on a struggling second franchise in Kilmarnock, putting the family home at risk under a personal guarantee. His case, revealed by the Guardian and later raised in parliament, prompted Keir Starmer to pledge a review of franchising law. It follows Vodafone's settlement, a week earlier, of a High Court claim by 62 former franchisees who alleged the company had "unjustly enriched" itself by up to £85m, reached without admission of liability.