Volkswagen will hand British drivers £2,000 over ‘dieselgate’ scandal
Volkswagen is to pay thousands of British drivers more than £2,100 each over the “dieselgate” emissions scandal.
The German carmaker will pay out £193m after settling a five-year long legal battle over the use of illegal software in its cars to manipulate pollution data on tests. More than 91,000 drivers in England and Wales will receive an average of £2,121, which will vary depending on the model of car owned and for how long.
It is believed to be the largest such settlement in a group action in the UK, and comes on top of more than €30bn (£26bn) the automotive giant has already paid worldwide over the scandal in fines, civil settlements and buyback schemes. It has not compensated all EU purchasers.
VW admitted to using the illegal software to rig emissions tests in the US in 2015. Researchers found that from 2008 to 2015, car models were fitted with software that recognised when a car was being tested under lab conditions, tuning the engine to limit nitrogen oxide emissions (NOx). On the road, emissions were far higher.
Some 11m cars were fitted with the devices, about 1.2m of which were in the UK.
Lawyers for the claimants argued that VW installed software to cheat emissions tests in Audi, Seat and Skoda brands and that low emissions data were used to lure customers away from cleaner petrol engined cars.
VW made no admission of liability or loss in coming to the agreement, and said it will also make a contribution to the group’s legal fees. It said avoiding a six-month trial was “the most prudent course of action commercially”.
In a statement, VW said: "The Volkswagen Group would, once again, like to take this opportunity to sincerely apologise to their customers for the two mode software installed in the EA189 vehicles. The Volkswagen Group will continue to work to rebuild the trust of their customers here in England and Wales."
Philip Haarmann, VW’s chief legal officer, said: “The Volkswagen Group is pleased that we have been able to conclude this long running litigation in England and Wales. The settlement is another important milestone as the Volkswagen Group continues to move beyond the deeply regrettable events leading up to September 2015.”
The deal was hailed as a victory for the claimants’ backers after a legal battle of five years. It had been due to go to trial in January 2023.
Ben Smyth of Therium Capital Management, which backed lawyers of Slater and Gordon that represented 70,000 of the claimants, said: “Taking legal action was the only way to ensure that VW would be held to account for allegedly misleading their customers and cheating emissions guidelines.”
David Whitmore, chief executive of Slater and Gordon, said: "The settlement avoids the need for a lengthy, complex and expensive trial process and we are delighted to have achieved this settlement for our customers as a result of the group action."
VW offered to fix affected models and started the recall in January 2016. Senior executive Oliver Schmidt was released last year after being sentenced to seven years in prison for evading American clean-air laws.
The automaker was not alone in being accused of manipulating emissions data, with Ford, Vauxhall owner Stellantis, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Jaguar Land Rover among others that could be subject to similar lawsuits.
A 2016 report by the Royal College of Physicians said that air pollution causes the premature deaths of up to 40,000 people a year in the UK, with particles caused by combustion engines and NOx being part of the cause.
