£25m settlement in lawsuit claiming South Western rail passengers were overcharged is now paying out

Transport for London Travelcard holders who travelled on South Western trains can now make a compensation claim

The £25 million settlement between Stagecoach South Western Trains and consumer rights campaigner Justin Gutmann is now open for affected rail passengers to claim their share of compensation.

This settlement only relates to Stagecoach South Western Trains who operated the South Western rail franchise between February 1996 and August 2017. 

South Western train companies – including Stagecoach South Western Trains and First MTR South Western Trains – were accused of overcharging 2.1 million rail passengers in a £57 million lawsuit filed by Justin Gutmann.

The Competition Appeal Tribunal approved the settlement between Gutmann and Stagecoach in May. Stagecoach agreed to the settlement without any admission of liability.

The first of two trials against First MTR South Western Trains – the current South Western Rail Operator – took place in June.

Are you one of 1.4 million SW train customers owed compensation?

You could be owed compensation if you held a Transport for London travelcard and travelled on South Western Trains between 1 October 2015 and 20 August 2017.

The South Western rail line runs trains between London (Waterloo station) and major towns and cities in the South West. 

These include Reading, Woking, Guildford, Portsmouth, Basingstoke, Southampton, Bournemouth, Weymouth, Salisbury, Exeter, Bath and Bristol.

You must have held a valid Travelcard for within one or several of Transport for London’s fare zones, and the rail fare you paid for will have overlapped with these zones.

You can claim for yourself or for someone you bought tickets for.

Sign up so we can keep you updated on the progress of the Stagecoach settlement, and make sure you’re the first to know the outcome of the trial against First MTR.

How much compensation can be claimed for?

The £25 million settlement has been divided into three pots – with each pot requiring different levels of proof that you are owed compensation.

Our table summarises how much you can claim and the level of evidence needed to make your claim:

Settlement allocation	Proof required	Value of claim
£19 million	Evidence of all journeys for which you a making a claim for – this can include receipts or bank statements	Unlimited
£4 million	Proof of purchase of a relevant TfL travelcard or relevant fare	Up to £100: £5 for each claim up to 20 claims
£2 million	Proof of residence and signed statement of truth	Up to £30: £5 for each valid claim up to 6 claims

Visit the boundary fares claim website to make your claim. You have until 10 January 2025 to submit your claim for compensation.

About the claim against Stagecoach

Stagecoach was sued for £39 million for its part in allegedly overcharging rail passengers by not making ‘boundary fares’ sufficiently available to customers who also bought TfL Travelcards.

Boundary fares allow passengers who own a Travelcard to get discounts on tickets to take them from the boundary of their travelcard to their final destination. 

For example, if you own a zone 1-4 Travelcard but need to travel between Waterloo and Reading, you should be able to buy a fare from the edge of zone 4. 

Gutmann claimed these cheaper fares are not easily available online and rarely offered at a ticket office.