You could be owed money if you travel to London on Southeastern train routes
Southeastern rail is being sued for £36m for overcharging 885,000 rail passengers.
Southeastern rail is being sued for £36 million for overcharging around 885,000 million rail passengers.
Sign up to stay updated if you have a London Travelcard and travel on Southeastern lines.
Train passengers paying twice for fares in London
The lawsuit is about the lack of access for passengers to so-called ‘boundary fares’. This is where travellers holding a TfL Travelcard should be offered discounts on tickets to take them from the boundary of their travelcard to their final destination.
Southeastern rail is accused of not making boundary fares sufficiently available for Travelcard holders to buy.
It’s claimed that millions of customers are paying a higher fare than is necessary because their Travelcard already covers them for part of their journey.
Are you one of thousands of rail passengers owed money?
You could be eligible for compensation if:
- You owned a TfL Travelcard at any time from October 2015, and
- You bought a rail fare from a station within the zones of your Travelcard to a destination outside the zones.
The claim against UK train companies
Justin Gutmann, a consumer rail campaigner, is representing all affected people who travel using Southeastern trains. He accuses Southeastern of breaching UK competition laws by charging Travelcard holders twice when travelling on certain routes.
Gutmann has instructed the law firms Charles Lyndon and Hausfeld & Co LLP to represent him in the consumer collective claim to seek compensation for the millions of affected customers. This claim is funded by Woodsford Group Limited.
How to claim compensation
The Competition Appeal Tribunal gave the green light in October 2021 for the claim to go to trial. Those people affected will not be charged legal fees if it goes to trial, and do not need to contact lawyers yet.
You are automatically eligible for compensation if you live in the UK, unless you opt-out. You can still claim if you live outside the UK but you must proactively opt-in to be eligible. Sign up to Consumer Voice to stay updated and to find out when you can claim.
We will keep you updated on the latest developments in the Southeastern trains claim and other group consumer claims.
What’s happening with this claim?
The Competition Appeal Tribunal certified the application for this claim on 19 October 2021. This means that his claim can proceed to full trial with Gutmann representing affected rail passengers. The Tribunal declared in April 2023 that this claim and the claim against Govia Thameslink and South Western trains should be heard together. A first trial will be held in June 2024 to explore the claim that these companies abused their dominant position.
Share this…
Related news
Mastercard faces £14bn court case that could hand 46m shoppers £300 each
Mastercard is accused of charging shops unlawful transaction fees which resulted in more expensive goods and services for UK shoppers. Sign up to stay updated.
£36 billion potentially owed to UK consumers who have been ripped off by big business
Twelve consumer lawsuits that have been filed with the specialist competition court could leave every adult in the UK owed money, and eligible for compensation from multiple claims.
Consumer duty: the biggest shake-up of financial services in two decades comes into force today
Fairer Finance founder and award-winning blogger, James Daley, joins us to tell us what to expect from the financial regulator’s new rules for financial services.