A massive legal claim for almost £100 million was launched today against three commuter train operators accused of forcing passengers to “pay double” for their journeys.
The rail companies that run the
Southeastern and
South Western networks are alleged to have overcharged millions of customers who bought tickets for travel beyond the zones covered by their Travelcards.
The claim, lodged with the Competition Appeal Tribunal this morning, argues that they should have been offered the chance to pay “boundary fares” for the “gap” between the outer limit of their Travelcard zone coverage and their final destination.
But in reality these fares were not promoted or made available for sale online, over the phone or at platform machines and were rarely offered at ticket counters. This left passengers with “little option” other than to pay twice, according to the claim.
It is being led by the former head of research at Citizens Advice, Justin Gutmann, who also spent eight years working for London Underground.
He has commissioned research from analysts Alix Partners estimating that 168 million journeys have been affected by the “unfair” overcharging since October 2015, with UK rail passengers owed £93 million and passengers from outside the UK a further £4.5 million.
For example, a passenger holding a zones one to six Travelcard who wanted to travel from Victoria to Rochester would be entitled to pay just £8.70 for a boundary fare from the outer limit of zone six to the end destination.
But in reality the vast majority of passengers buying the ticket on the day are charged the full fare of £18.70, an overpayment of £10.
Similarly a trip from Waterloo to Addlestone in Surrey should cost only a £5.10 boundary fare for the holder of a zones 1 to 6 Travelcard. However, the normally charged full fare is £10.40, an overpayment of £5.30.
Mr Gutmann said: “Passengers in London already pay a lot of money for trains that are often delayed or not even running. Now,following extensive research, we have found that some passengers are paying twice for parts of their rail journeys. We are launching this legal action to ensure that the money that South Western and Southeastern have made from this is returned to those train users.
“Millions of rail passengers could be eligible for compensation. Let’s put this right and stop train companies taking passengers for a ride.”
The tribunal will be asked to decide whether the claim can proceed as a “collective proceeding order” similar to a class action under Chapter II of the 1998 Competition Act and Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
If it is allowed to go forward any passenger who had a Travelcard at any time from October 1, 2015 and also purchased a rail fare from a station within the zones of their Travelcard to a destination outside the zones may be eligible for compensation. Affected passengers who do not live in the UK will also be eligible to join the claim but must opt in.
The companies involved are Stagecoach South Western Trains, which ran the South Western franchise up to August 2017, and the current operator First MTR South Western Trains, as well as London and South Eastern Railway, which holds the Southeastern train franchise.
