A British law firm has taken legal action against Volkswagen, looking for thousands pounds of compensation each for drivers in the UK, impacted by the automaker’s emissions scandal.
The German automaker associated with lawsuits in a number of countries and is racing to solve criminal and civil claims with the United States’ Department of Justice after confessing to cheat diesel emissions tests.
On Monday, it was reported that Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had arrested a Volkswagen executive on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States, highlighting how the automaker is still having a hard time to proceed from the scandal 16 months after it emerged.
In UK, Europe’s second-biggest cars market, 1.2 million vehicles are affected and Harcus Sinclair UK, which is being supported by Slater and Gordon, stated around 10,000 drivers had presently signed up to the legal action prior to Monday’s launch.
The company will pursue a group action, the closest British equivalent of a U.S. class action, at the High Court and is seeking other drivers affected by emissions scandal to come forward and take part in the case.
“We will argue that you got a vehicle that must never have been licensed for sale because that it did not fulfill the needed emissions requirements,” the company stated on its website.
“We believe that the Court will assess the difference between what you paid for your vehicle and the inherent value of what you actually received.”
A representative for Volkswagen stated the automaker would “robustly” protect itself in the case and reiterated it did not think consumers would lose out because of the scandal.
“We expect no decline in the residual values of the affected vehicles as a result of this issue,” he stated.
