About us

The class representative

Mark McLaren is a consumer champion who has dedicated a large part of his career to fighting for consumers, across a wide range of sectors.

Mark spent nine years working for The Consumers' Association, more commonly known as Which?. He currently sits on the Consumer Panel of the Legal Services Board, and is a director of The Property Ombudsman.

Mark has set up a not-for-profit company – Mark McLaren Class Representative Limited – specifically to bring the claim. Mark is the only director and only member of the company so has full control of it.

In a collective action, the class representative is responsible for conducting the claim on behalf of the class. Responsibilities include:

• instructing specialist lawyers and experts,
• making decisions on the conduct of the claim and, in particular, deciding whether to present any settlement offer for approval by the Competition Appeal Tribunal,
• communicating with the class and issuing formal notices to class members through various means, including posting notices on this website,
• To assist with decision-making, there will be an independent advisory committee headed by Sir Richard Aikens, a former Lord Justice of Appeal of the Courts of England and Wales. Other members of the advisory committee are Nick Stace, CEO of The Prince's Trust from 2017-2020, Kate Wellington, CEO of the Cost Lawyers Standards Board, and Steve Fowler, former Editor-in-chief of Auto Express. Between them, the advisory committee have a deep understanding of consumer rights and the automotive industry.