BOUNDARY FARES

In February 2019, Charles Lyndon brought the first stand-alone collective action in the Competition Appeal Tribunal on behalf of millions of passengers who have paid twice for part of their train journeys.

Charles Lyndon seeks compensation for all those who have suffered from the train companies’ allegedly anti-competitive behavior. The total sought is around £93 million. If the claim is successful, all persons who have an eligible claim will be able to seek their share of the compensation.

Passengers who owned a Travelcard at any time from 1 October 2015 and also purchased a rail fare from a station within the zones of their Travelcard to a destination outside of those zones may be eligible for compensation.  Millions of passengers are thought to be affected.

 Everyone who fits the description above and lives in the UK will be automatically included in the class, unless that person chooses to ‘opt-out’. However, non-UK residents will likely be required to ‘opt-in’ to the proceedings to participate.

There is no cost for bringing the action. This claim is being funded by Woodsford Litigation Funding, a specialist litigation funder. By absorbing both the costs and risks associated with a claim of this size, Woodsford is enabling the claim to be brought and ensuring that as many rail passengers as possible benefit from this legal action.

At Charles Lyndon, we understand the distress and inconvenience caused by big corporations that regularly overcharge consumers. This is why we are looking to seek compensation for those affected and have the train companies change their behaviour. We are launching this legal action to ensure that the money that South Western and South Eastern have made from this is returned to those train users.

The claim was filed by our client Mr. Justin Gutmann — a veteran consumer-rights advocate — on behalf of all rail passengers affected. In respect of this claim, Mr. Gutmann stated:

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.

Millions of rail passengers could be eligible for compensation. Let’s put this right and stop train companies taking passengers for a ride.”

We believe that the effective imposition of an unfair price for fares is an abuse of the companies’ dominant positions in the train market and is in breach of UK and EU competition laws.

Charles Lyndon joined forces with Hausfeld & Co, who are pioneers in the private enforcement of competition law in Europe and have extensive experience working on collective actions on behalf of consumers and businesses. 

Charles Lyndon is pleased to announce that the firm, together with Hausfeld London, has been nominated for ‘Competition and Regulatory Team of the Year’ at The Lawyer Awards 2020. The awards recognise exceptional talent in the City of London and across the country. Winners at Awards are a force to be reckoned with, having been highly commended by The Lawyer’s elite judging panel for implementing bold initiatives in the legal industry.

The team has been shortlisted for its exceptional work on the “Trains” case against the South Western and South Eastern rail franchises. The claim was filed at the Competition Appeal Tribunal by our client Mr Justin Gutmann on behalf of rail passengers who have been overcharged due to the limited availability of boundary fares.  The claim is the first stand-alone collective action to be filed in England & Wales.