CMA’s new consumer protection powers: 10 questions every rail business should be asking

CONSUMER LAW IS NO LONGER JUST A COMPLIANCE ISSUE FOR THE RAIL SECTOR: IT IS A BOARD-LEVEL ISSUE

For many years, consumer protection was viewed primarily as a marketing or compliance issue. That has changed.

Rail is one of Britain’s most prominent consumer-facing sectors. Complex fare structures, multiple retail channels, ticket restrictions, refunds and compensation, and increasingly digital customer journeys create many points at which passengers receive information and make purchasing decisions – which creates consumer law risk.

The rail sector is also undergoing fundamental structural change. The transition towards public ownership and Great British Railways is intended to put passengers at the heart of the railway while simplifying fares, ticketing and the way passengers interact with the network. New branding, retail interfaces, fare structures and customer journeys will need consumer compliance designed in from the outset, rather than added as a final legal check.

Since April 2025, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) has been able to investigate and enforce against breaches of consumer law directly, impose fines of up to 10% of global turnover, require businesses to compensate consumers and direct businesses to change the way they sell products and services. What was once a compliance exercise has now become a board-level regulatory, financial, and reputational risk.

Rail is already under the consumer spotlight. The Advertising Standards Authority (“ASA”) has upheld complaints concerning “cheapest”, “lowest” and “best price” claims by rail businesses, including where split ticketing could produce a lower overall price. The CMA is also investigating whether Trainline included mandatory fees in the total price shown at the beginning of the online purchasing process or not. That investigation is ongoing.

These developments show that a single passenger journey can attract scrutiny from different angles. Pricing, advertising, ticket retailing, digital design, passenger rights and redress need to be considered together, across every channel; and by operators, independent retailers and ancillary service providers alike.

The combination of stronger CMA powers, active scrutiny of rail retailing and the redesign of the industry makes this the right time for rail businesses to test whether their practices would withstand scrutiny.

Before coming under the spotlight, rail businesses should ask themselves these ten key questions:

1. Would passengers always know the full price of their journey when they first see a fare before deciding to buy?

2. Are all mandatory booking, fulfilment or other charges included upfront, rather than added later in the purchase journey, which could otherwise be characterised as “drip pricing”?

3. Can you substantiate claims such as “cheapest”, “lowest”, “save” or “book direct”, taking account of alternative fares, split-ticketing and other retail options?

4. Could passengers readily understand whether there is a cheaper or more appropriate fare for their journey, and the material restrictions attaching to the fare they select?

5. Are your website, app and ticket-machine journeys designed to help passengers make informed choices, rather than steering them through defaults, prompts, urgency messages or friction points?

6. Are refund, cancellation and compensation rights explained clearly, consistently and at the right time, and is it straightforward for passengers to exercise them?

7. Are all your key passenger-facing claims (e.g. punctuality, reliability, service quality, conditions on board, environmental benefits, sustainability) backed by evidence?

8. Have you thought about consumer compliance for ancillary services such as food and drink, Wi-Fi, parking, seat reservations and intermodal ticket add-ons?

9. Do the same standards apply consistently across websites, apps, ticket offices, ticket machines, onboard sales, call centres and third-party retailers?

10. If the CMA, Office of Rail and Road (“ORR”) or ASA scrutinised a practice tomorrow, could you explain why it is fair to passengers, and would your contemporaneous internal documents support that explanation?
      

WHY THIS MATTERS

The CMA's recent enforcement activity suggests a clear direction of travel. Businesses should expect increasing scrutiny of:

• Fare and total-price transparency, including mandatory fees

• “Cheapest”, “lowest”, “best price”, savings and “book direct” claims

• Fare complexity, ticket restrictions and the presentation of alternative options

• Digital choice architecture, defaults, prompts and other potential “dark patterns”

• Refunds, cancellations, delay compensation and passenger redress

• Service, punctuality, accessibility and sustainability claims

• Consistency across digital, physical and third-party retail channels

The move towards Great British Railways increases the importance of getting this right. Simplifying fares and consolidating retail journeys may improve the passenger experience, but each new claim, interface and process also creates a compliance touchpoint. Consumer protection is no longer just a compliance issue. Instead, it may become one of your organisation's most significant regulatory risks and should be addressed proactively.
  

HOW STEPHENSON HARWOOD CAN HELP

Our Consumer Protection Team can support rail businesses on:

• Advertising, service, accessibility, marketing and sustainability claims

• Fare structures, mandatory fees, promotions and price claims

• Customer journeys in different sales channels (e.g. websites, apps, ticket machines)

• Refunds, compensation, complaints, redress and remediation

• Consumer terms, passenger information and ancillary services

• Online platforms, AI and digital consumer issues

• Reviews, endorsements and influencer marketing

• Consumer compliance audits, governance and risk management

• Engagement with and investigations by the CMA, ORR, ASA, Rail Ombudsman, Information Commission

• Consumer litigation, group claims and reputational risk

If any of the questions above gives you pause for thought, we would be delighted to discuss it with you. We have set out the Stephenson Harwood Consumer Protection team on the following pages.