Eurostar supports the OFT ruling on hidden card charges

July 6th 2011

Eurostar, the high-speed passenger service linking the UK and mainland Europe, has announced its support for the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) decision today to call for the law to be updated to stop consumers being surcharged, when buying goods and services with any debit card.

The OFT has announced it will uphold a super complaint submitted by Which?, the consumer group on unfair credit and debit card surcharges.

The watchdog has told passenger travel companies to change misleading debit and credit card surcharging practices or face enforcement action under consumer protection laws.

Nick Mercer, Commercial Director for Eurostar comments:

"This is a welcome decision by the OFT, companies should not a charge a surcharge for debit card bookings and they must be fully transparent about any credit card surcharges they apply.

"At Eurostar, we have always looked to be completely transparent and we have never charged to use debit cards.

"Consumers must be able to shop around and find the best deals and it's our responsibility as businesses to make this as quick and easy as possible for them."

"All Eurostar bookings made by debit card are free of charge. Eurostar charges a £4 fee for credit card bookings, which goes some way towards offsetting the costs charged by credit card companies.

"This fee is only applied to credit card transactions over £30."

---

Subscribe or spread the word:

• More Eurostar news articles
• More Hidden Card Charges news articles
• More OFT news articles