Two law firms are gearing up to take legal action in the High Court over the Volkswagen Dieselgate emissions scandal. VW is set to face a group litigation order, which sees the claims of many individuals put forward in a single case.

Chesterfield-based Your Lawyers will go to court along with London firm Slater and Gordon in March to find out who will take the overall lead in the legal proceedings against Volkswagen.

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The two companies are set to represent the interests of 55,000 diesel owners in the case. Your Lawyers has the smaller group of claimants, but wants to persuade the court that it should lead the arguments against the German car maker. A statement on the firm’s website read: ‘We will likely be appointed a lead solicitor in this action as we have the support of the other claimant law firms, and we will zealously litigate against Volkswagen for as long as it takes to achieve justice.’ Your Lawyers expects the group litigation to ‘get the go-ahead’ once the High Court decision is taken in March.

Aman Johal, director of Your Lawyers, said: ‘Over a million Volkswagen owners have been lied to and deserve compensation. The level of deceit perpetuated by the Volkswagen Group is beyond comprehension and amounts to one of the largest corporate scandals of all time. However, we are now reaching a critical turning point in the UK to give innocent owners a means of achieving compensation.’

Gareth Pope, a senior group litigation lawyer from Slater and Gordon, which represents more than 45,000 VW, Audi, Seat and Skoda owners, said: 'This is an important step forward for vehicle owners who want to hold VW to account over the emissions scandal.

'The tens of thousands of VW owners who have already signed up via our website VWEmissionAction.com – and those who continue to register to be part of the VW emissions action group every day – are determined to show VW that it isn’t above the law. We now have a clear timetable for bringing VW to justice.'

What is Dieselgate?

In September 2015, the American Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that diesel-powered Volkswagen Group cars were fraudulently passing industry-standard lab emissions tests by using special engine settings.

The settings were hidden inside the engine management software and were referred to as ‘defeat devices’.

Although Dieselgate is often considered to affect Volkswagens, it in fact applies across the entire Volkswagen Group, which includes Audi, Skoda, Seat and Porsche.

Find out more about Dieselgate.