Over one million train passengers could be due a share of a £25million compensation pot, and they’re being urged to stake their claim now. The alert especially applies if you have ever held a Transport for London (TfL) travelcard and travelled on a South West train.
However, the deadline to claim is January 10, 2025 – leaving just one month to act. The compensation stems from legal action taken against Stagecoach South West Trains (SSWT), which ran the South Western rail franchise from February 1996 to August 2017, by consumer rights advocate Justin Gutmann.
He contended that SSWT overcharged passengers by not adequately informing them about boundary fares. These fares allow travellers to journey beyond the zones covered by their travelcard without double-paying for the portion already included in their travelcard.
Mr Gutmann alleged these cheaper fares were ‘not easily available online’ and ‘rarely offered at a ticket office’, estimating around 1.4 million customers could be due compensation. South West Trains settled the case for £25million but denied all liability for wrongdoing, reports the Mirror.
To qualify for compensation, you must have had a valid TfL travelcard between October 1, 2015 and August 20, 2017, and purchased one or more South West Trains tickets for travel from a station within your TfL Travelcard’s zones. The firm covered numerous destinations in south west England, including Guildford, Exeter St. Davids and Southampton Central, as well as London Waterloo.
If you’re eligible, there are various levels of compensation that you might receive. For instance, if you have no evidence of your journeys, you can claim for a maximum of six journeys at £5 each, totalling a compensation claim of £30.
However, if you can show proof of purchase of a relevant TfL travelcard, or a relevant fare, you can claim up to 20 journeys at £5 each, so a total compensation claim of £100.
If you can provide both proof of your TfL travelcard and your relevant fare, then you can claim for the full amount you overpaid based on the number of journeys you made. You also need to have been a resident in the United Kingdom between October 19, 2021 and April 30, 2024 to participate in the claim process. You can make a claim for yourself or for someone for whom you purchased tickets.
Experts at Martin Lewis’ MoneySavingExpert (MSE) also explained: “You’ll most likely get the full amount you claim for. However, if many more people claim than expected, you could get back less. This is because South West Trains has only agreed to pay up to £25 million, and the structure of the settlement means that most of this money is reserved for people who can provide full evidence – while the amount available for those with limited or no evidence is capped at a lower level.
“The lawyers who ran the case will be paid at least £4.75 million and could get a share of any unclaimed compensation on top of that.” Crucially, the settlement between Mr Gutmann and SSWT is separate to a similar claim against First MTR South Western Trains Limited, according to the Mirror.