UK DRIVERS TO SUE VW FOR BILLIONS

Class action threat over fiddled diesel tests

BRITISH motorists are preparing a blockbuster lawsuit that could cost scandal-hit Volkswagen billions of pounds. Hundreds of thousands of VW, Audi and SEAT owners are set to use new ‘class action’ rights.

Rival car makers may be dragged into the lawsuit too if they are also found to have fiddled emissions tests. VW has admitted fixing the exhaust gas checks on its diesel cars to make them appear more green.

Eleven million vehicles with the ‘defeat devices’ were sold worldwide and hundreds of thousands are thought to be on Britain’s roads.

Owners, whose cars could plunge in value, can now band together in ‘collective actions’ under the Consumer Rights Act, which comes into force next Thursday. VW has put aside £5billion to cope with the recall crisis but experts warn the final bill could force it into bankruptcy. In further developments:

The German firm’s boss, Martin Winterkorn, quit – while claiming he knew nothing of the cheating;

Scientists warned high pollution levels suggest other firms are cheating;

Independent motor dealers say they are steering clear of VW models;

VW has hired the global law firm that

represented BP, Kirkland and Ellis, after the 2010 Deep Water Horizon disaster;

Angela Merkel was accused of having known of the scandal in advance.

Campaigners at the pressure group Transport & Environment said the technology used by VW was employed by other manufacturers, meaning many of the UK’s 11million diesels might have to be recalled.

Jacqueline Young, of lawyers Slater and Gordon, said: ‘If UK cars are found to contain defeat devices, this would give rise to a claim by car owners and car dealerships who bought VW vehicles on the basis of false information and whose asset has now devalued.

‘The problem might not be limited to Volkswagen, but rather may be endemic across the car industry. This could potentially give rise to a legal action the like of which this country has never seen.’

Volkswagen sells half a million VWs, Audis and SEATs annually in the UK, half of them diesels. Because the scandal has run since 2009, 1.5million may be affected.

Steve Fowler, editor-in chief of Auto Express, said: ‘If Volkswagen are cheating in one emissions test, how many more have they been cheating on? This could be just the tip of the iceberg. And if one manufacturer is cheating, what about the others? The silence has been deafening. You would expect other car makers to be making hay at the expense of a rival. But they are not. The industry should be shouting from the roof tops that they are clean. The should come out quickly and say they are not cheating.’

He added: ‘There is a real risk that sales could stall and residual values plummet. That means the car on your driveway is worth less.’ Martin Williams of the Institute of Environmental Sciences said higher than expected air pollution rates cast doubt on claims by manufacturers that they were reducing nitrogen oxide levels.

Pollution should be falling, the professor said, adding: ‘Draw your own conclusions. We’ve suspected for some time that something odd was going on.’

Ian Colbeck, professor of aerosol science at the University of Essex, said: ‘It has recently been estimated that the impact of NO2, the pollutant in question, on mortality is equivalent to 23,500 deaths every year in the UK.’

Experts at Which? said the existing system for testing emissions – set to be replaced in 2017 – was hopelessly inaccurate.

Richard Lloyd, the consumer group’s executive director, said: ‘Our research has consistently shown that the official test used by car makers is seriously in need of updating as it contains a number of loopholes that lead to unrealistic performance claims.’

Huw Irranca-Davies, who chairs the Com- mons environmental audit committee, said customers needed urgent reassurance that they had not been cheated.

The MP added: ‘This is not simply an issue of customers being deceived. Air pollution from dangerous emissions in diesel vehicles is linked to thousands of deaths in the UK each year. The impact of poor air quality on health and mortality is already a scandal in the UK and in many of our major cities, and emissions from diesel vehicles are the prime culprit.’

Alexis Cassey, a partner in the Portsmouthbased independent car dealers Prestige Diesels, said she was now avoiding VWs and Audis. She added: ‘We’ve made the decision not to buy any cars from the affected ranges but I can’t believe just Volkswagen is involved: if one is at it, they are all at it.’

The affair could have an impact on the owners of unleaded cars too.

An AA spokesman said: ‘It concerns us that there may be pressure to ramp up vehicle excise duty, parking charges and clean air taxes because of this.’

Which? said the average difference between the claimed and measured fuel economy figure of cars is 12 per cent.

Its researchers found that the VW Golf was the second-worst offender when it came to exaggerated claims of fuel economy.

‘Could be just the tip

of the iceberg’

AS the dust settles on last night’s emergency summit in Brussels, one truth is undeniable: the human tide sweeping into Europe from Africa and the Middle East has exposed profound tensions and weaknesses that raise fundamental questions about the EU’s very future.

Indeed, this week we’ve seen Brussels at its most dictatorial, trampling on the sovereign right of democratic states to say how many settlers they can absorb. For Angela Merkel, who exacerbated the crisis in an act of folly by announcing she would accept 800,000 ‘ refugees’ (though the origins of most of these migrants are far from clear), a large influx may be manageable. Indeed, Germany urgently needs to expand its labour force to support its ageing population.

But for others, any quota system will raise enormous problems – leaving aside their fear that the 120,000 to be distributed will be the first of millions. As Hungary accuses Mrs Merkel of ‘moral imperialism’, the truth is being rammed home again: as with the single currency, one size simply doesn’t fit all. How much longer will members submit to Brussels, before more join British eurosceptics in demanding looser ties?

As for David Cameron, he shouldn’t worry unduly that the infighting over refugees has deflected attention from his demands for reform.

At this rate, the crisis will do his job for him. Indeed, come the referendum, Brussels may have been forced to give up all thought of open borders or ever closer union. Assuming the EU still exists.