Five more people in Scotland seeking to reclaim controversial bank charges have been allowed to proceed with their legal bids in a move predicted to see countless English cases brought to Scottish courts.
The ruling at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Tuesday saw five unfair bank charge cases against HBOS, Bank of Scotland and Abbey National ordered to proceed to proof after motions on behalf of the banks to suspend the actions were refused.
Sheriff Noel McPartlin is the latest Scottish sheriff to decide that he could not be bound by a test case being pursued by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in England which has frozen customers cases there. His decision on Tuesday follows a similar move at Inverness Sheriff Court last week giving another two customers in Scotland permission to continue with legal action against their banks.
Legal experts welcomed the latest victory for Scottish consumers and predicted that Scotland could also soon be inundated with countless cases brought by unhappy customers south of the border who have the right to sue in Scotland if their bank is headquartered there.
Mike Dailly, principal solicitor at Govan Law Centre, which provided all the Edinburgh claimants with free online legal arguments, said: "This is more fantastic news for consumers here.
"The OFT test case could take several years because appeals could go all the way to the House of Lords which means that all these cases in England will remain frozen.
"But by law customers can choose to sue either where they are domiciled or where their bank has its headquarters, so people in England who bank with, for example, Halifax could come to Scotland to sue rather than wait."
The cases at Inverness Sheriff Court were brought against Halifax Bank of Scotland and Clydesdale Bank.
Mr Dailly, who brought the case at Inverness against HBOS on behalf of customer Aaron Thomson, said he expected HBOS to settle the case when it returns to court next month.
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