A legal claim seeking compensation worth up to £73 million for alleged overcharging of train tickets against millions of passengers, including Thameslink users, has today been filed against one of Britain’s most popular commuter railway networks.
Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) operate the Thameslink line as well as Great Northern, Southern, and Gatwick Express, and consumer rail campaigner Justin Gutmann today filed the case about the alleged lack of access to ‘boundary fares’ with the Competition Appeal Tribunal against the company.
Boundary fares are where travellers holding a London Travelcard should be offered discounted tickets taking them from the boundary of any zone covered by the card.
However, GTR is alleged to have not made ‘boundary fares’ sufficiently available for Travelcard holders using Thameslink and their other services to purchase, nor made passengers aware of their existence. An estimated 3.2 million customers therefore have been forced to pay a higher fare than necessary, it is alleged.
It is claimed that 240 million journeys since since November 2015 could have benefitted from boundary fares, if customers had known about them.
Not correctly informing customers or making the fares available is claimed to be a breach of the UK’s competition rules (s.18 of the Competition Act 1998) and an abuse by GTR of its market powers – if this were to be proven and upheld in the tribunal.
Independent research claims to show that boundary fares are not readily available online or over the telephone, and are rarely offered at ticket counters unless expressly requested.
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 those zones may be eligible for compensation under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, if the case is upheld.
As a result of the 2015 Act, groups of people who have all allegedly lost out do not need to bring an individual claim to receive compensation for their loss. Instead, these consumers may all receive compensation through a single, collective claim brought on their behalf, in this case by Mr. Gutmann.
Passengers of Thameslink or other GTR services who may have been affected will not have to pay any legal costs to participate in the claim and do not need to do anything at this stage to be included in it.
The Competition Appeal Tribunal will now determine whether or not Mr. Gutmann claim is allowed to proceed. To receive further information about the claim, visit the claim website, www.BoundaryFares.com, to sign up for updates.
A Govia Thameslink Railway spokesperson said: “We are aware of this proposed claim. Should the claim progress, we will make our submissions to the tribunal in due course.”
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