UK VW owners seek hefty damages for use of ‘defeat’ devices in vehicles
26 Mar 2018
Owners in the UK of diesel vehicles manufactured by the VW group are seeking hefty damages from the auto major after it admitted in 2015 of using ‘defeat’ devices to cheat emission tests.
Lawyers for the claimants in the UK are seeking huge payments from Volkswagen, which reached a $25 billion settlement with owners, regulators, states and dealers in the US.
“We are working hard to seek damages for claimants in the UK who are yet to receive anything, unlike their US counterparts,” said Aman Johal, director, Your Lawyers, which is acting on behalf of about 10,000 VW customers. About 1.2 million VW diesel vehicles were affected in the UK.
According to Johal, “it is time that victims of Volkswagen’s emissions scandal achieve justice and that their voices are heard. Millions of people have been subject to harmful emissions, and consumers have lost money as a result of the scandal.”
A VW spokesman told the media in the UK that there is no buy-back deal or compensation for drivers outside the US. This is because the relevant facts and complex legal issues that have played a role in coming to agreements in the US are materially different from those in Europe and other parts of the world.
“Regulations governing nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions limits for vehicles in the US are much stricter than those in other parts of the world and the engine variants also differ significantly,” said the spokesman. “This makes the development of technical measures in the US more challenging than in Europe and other parts of the world, where implementation of an approved programme to modify TDI vehicles to comply fully with UN/ECE and European emissions standards has already begun by agreement with the relevant authorities.”