A former UK financial ombudsman has asked MasterCard to refund £ 14 billion to consumers it believes it has illegally taken from them during retail operations. The British plan to distribute this amount to 46.2 million eligible UK borrowers Who carry this card, for 300 pounds each. To make this possible, Walter Merseys has taken the world's most famous law firm specializing in such a dispute to raise the largest collective lawsuit in British history, where Mirex believes that millions of consumers have paid higher prices in stores for 16 years because of excessive transaction fees imposed by these the card.

Last week, the Court of Appeal ruled in his favor, which means that the Court of Appeal for Competition, which has already rejected his invitation, will have to reconsider this case.

Many may not expect success because of the magnitude of the challenge, but Mirex says: "I'm nervous, of course, and many of us are always tense about any case before the court, but I have a lot of energy, and I expect a lot of different things to happen, To go to the end. "

Mirex has a distinguished career: In 1972, he was appointed as the Founding Director of the UK's first public-sector legal center. He had an active role in changing laws, helping to introduce the 1984 Police and Criminal Evidence Act, In 1985. As a member of the Fraud Committee, his landmark report led to the establishment of the Serious Fraud Office in 1987.

But perhaps his biggest achievement was the Financial Ombudsman, which he was president in 1999, where in 10 years he managed to settle 750,000 disputes. He is now seventy-three years old. He heads the independent media agency Empres and the Legal Reform Society. , Is a member of the Consumer Commission of the Civil Aviation Authority, co-founder of the Donner Concepcion Network, which deals with donations and, of course, sues MasterCard.

In 2007, the European Commission issued a ruling that Visa and MasterCard violated the competition law by overcharging card transactions. Visa accepted the decision and in one case in 2016 settled a £ 1.2 billion claim outside the court filed by Tesco .

Between 1992 and 2008, allegations surfaced that MasterCard had imposed illegal fees on transactions, which were the victims of high retail prices. Mirex calculated the value of these transactions in the UK in the 16 years, and counted the amount plus interest, according to UNHCR rules The European company followed by MasterCard.

As one of the country's most prominent consumer rights advocates, he expressed this injustice by saying: "It's a mistake, and it's simply a big mistake." If we do not stop at that, MasterCard will continue to raise these fees up and up. In every purchase and will simply pay it, and MasterCard will not say that it did something wrong. "

"I would be surprised if companies did not talk to their competition advisors about the competition and asked them to keep it clean," he said. "If we did not win in the Court of Appeal, Collective action system ".

As for what happens next with MasterCard, it simply waits, and the £ 190bn company is expected to settle instead of stalling the case for another four or five years. All of Merck's actions and efforts are funded by the US case financing company, Keller Capital, which offered £ 36m to recover 30% of the case, estimated at £ 1bn.

If Merck wins, the name of each one will be announced. "I am waiting for a fair result. If MasterCard resorts to a fair settlement, I will appreciate it," he said. "What matters most is to compensate consumers."

"Legalists believe that our judicial system is the most outstanding in the world, but for ordinary people it is so terrible," Mirex concludes.

- Walter Merseys turned to a large law firm to raise the largest collective action in British history to recover credit card transaction fees.