On the 20th February 2017, a hearing was held with Volkswagen’s UK Managing Director, Paul Willis, who said that he doesn’t believe that the German automotive giant misled customers when they were purchasing the vehicles involved in the emissions scandal.
The Department For Transport questioned many aspects of the scandal, with Willis mostly responding with answers akin to “I don’t know”, which really didn’t help matters at all.
A year on, VW remain defiant in refusing victims compensation, and not a lot else has happened in terms of government intervention.
There is a lot that the government could do by way of fines and enforcing recalls, but this hasn’t happened at all; which is contrary to the position in America.
The Department For Transport did a fine job last year of challenging Mr Willis in every way possible, and picking at every fine detail. One of the most memorable moments came when Mr Willis stated “the position of Volkswagen is that we did nothing wrong”. Quite frankly, this remains offensive to all of the Volkswagen Group’s customers who were misled when purchasing under the pretence that they were receiving vehicles that emitted legal levels of deadly NOx.
VW’s position remains unchanged, and unchallenged further from the government, leaving our class action as the way forward to ensure fair justice is attained.
When MP’s stated that Volkswagen had been caught “red-handed”, Mr Willis responded that he didn’t believe that was the case. He clearly stood by the unfathomable view that Volkswagen is an ethical company.
When asked “are customers of Volkswagen eligible for compensation?”
He replied “no, my position in compensation and my company’s position in compensation is absolutely consistent and clear”, emphasising that, although customers had been compensated in the US, customers in the UK and Europe are not eligible for compensation due to regulations being different.
Committee members branded Mr Willis as learning everything he knew from the press, and he proved to be a poor witness and spokesperson for Volkswagen throughout; simply commenting “to the best of my knowledge” repeatedly.
With no changes one year on, it’s clear to us that the way forward for ensuring VW are punished is to press ahead with our growing group of claimants and demand the justice that they deserve.
As a victim, you should join the fight today; especially since the next key hearing is this month!
The content of this post/page was considered accurate at the time of the original posting and/or at the time of any posted revision. The content of this page may, therefore, be out of date. The information contained within this page does not constitute legal advice. Any reliance you place on the information contained within this page is done so at your own risk.