Southern Rail passengers file legal claim against DfT

Southern Rail, owned by Govia Thameslink Railway, commuters have launched a legal claim to force the government to take action over the failing train service.

Lawyers for the Association of British Commuters have filed an application for a judicial review of the Department for Transport’s handling of the disruption.

The initial legal costs of £26,000 have been crowdfunded by over 1,300 passengers who have suffered on-going cancellations and delays on the service since it became a part of Govia Thameslink Railway’s operation in 2015.

“Our final grounds, submitted to court today, are the result of five months’ hard work, and the extensive research of dozens of volunteers; who have supported our campaign by contributing their time and professional skills. Our donors, volunteers and supporters are the people who have been hit the hardest by the Southern rail crisis, and they deserve to play a part in finally bringing the government to account,” said a spokeswoman for the group.

The passengers are seeking a ruling on whether the DfT has failed to hold GTR to account for the long-term poor service and whether the transport secretary Chris Grayling has indirectly discriminated against disabled passengers.

The judges will be asked to consider the claim on four grounds. The first arguing that the DfT has not properly enforced the management contract. The three other grounds relate to the effects of the service on disabled passengers who have been unable to board crowded trains or travel without booking ahead in most instances. The claim argues that Grayling has breached the 2010 Equality Act by failing to act.

Emily Yates, a founder of the group, said: “There has long ceased to be any justification for the transport secretary’s hands-off approach to a company that is his department’s direct contractor.”

“We began this process back in September, at a time when we felt we’d already reached our last resort. That it has got so much worse, and the DfT have still not acted, now staggers belief. Commuters have long since passed the point of exhaustion, and it is a matter of shame on the department that we have had to go to such great lengths to ask them to finally take action on this failed company,” she added.

Faryal Velmi, the director of Transport for All, said Southern had been “allowed to treat disabled passengers as second-class citizens”. She said: “Transport for All has heard time and again from disabled transport users who feel Southern rail’s network is now a no-go zone; impacting on people’s ability to work and often leaving them increasingly isolated. The Department for Transport and rail industry must act urgently to prevent the basic rights of disabled passengers being flouted in this way.”

The court must decide whether the case will proceed and if it does commuters plan to launch a further crowdfunding campaign to fund it.

GTR and the train drivers’ union Aslef are meeting this week to try and resolve the dispute that has caused many of the problems with Southern Rail. The six-day planned strike in January has been suspended but little progress has been made to the fight over the roles and responsibilities of drivers and on-board crew.