Tribunal approves Stagecoach £25m settlement in train fare class action
Stagecoach South Western Trains has agreed to pay a class action suit up to £25m in settlement, bringing an end to its five year dispute.
The lawsuit was originally launched back in 2019 over allegations that the London rail franchise overcharged its passengers. The case related to boundary fares, which allows passengers who own a Travelcard to travel beyond the zones covered by it, without doubling up on payment.
The class action filed by law firm Charles Lyndon also named First MTR South Western Trains as a defendant. There were also other claims against London and South Eastern Railway and another against Govia Thameslink Railway.
The cases are being funded by litigation funder, Woodsford Group.
The claim was filed to the Competition Appeal Tribunal with an estimated compensation to be worth around £93m. It was one of the first cases to have Justin Gutmann, formerly of Citizens Advice, as the class representative. He has since lent his name to several cases at the Tribunal including a £768m class action case against Apple and a £3bn case against UK mobile networks.
This case was certified by the Tribunal on 19 October 2021, with a first trial set for June 2024.
However, on Friday, the Tribunal confirmed that Stagecoach South Western Trains had settled the class action, expecting to pay out up to £25m. Only Stagecoach has settled with the representative of the rail passengers – First MTR South Western Trains is still named as a defendant on the case.
According to its FAQs, over the next two months, a claims website will be created which will allow class members to submit a claim for redress from this settlement.
There will then be a six month claim period during which class members will be able to submit their claim. The claim period will open on 10 July 2024 and will close on 10 January 2025.
Steven Friel, Woodsford’s CEO said: “This settlement approval confirms Woodsford as the most active and the most successful litigation funder in the CAT collective proceedings regime. Our actions have resulted in the first two, and as yet only, court-approved settlements in the regime.”
Stagecoach and the class action representatives were contacted for a comment.