The High Court has dismissed, and certified as “totally without merit”, a highly publicised judicial review challenge to TfL’s London Underground ‘ghost stations’ procurement (in which TfL sought proposals for the redevelopment of (currently) disused underground stations). The Claimant, Mr Chambers, alleged that TfL had breached its public law duties and acted unfairly in its conduct of the procurement, with the effect of depriving him, and his company, of a fair and equal opportunity to obtain a contract. Mr Chambers’ allegations have received significant media attention.
The High Court dismissed the applications for judicial review and an interim junction and certified the claim as “totally without merit”. So far as relevant, the Court held that:
- The procurement concerned the award of a lease and there was no sufficient public law element to support a claim for judicial review.
- The claim was, in any event, time-barred.
- There was no arguable ground of public law challenge to TfL’s decision not to take forward Mr Chambers’ bid.
Press coverage of the claim can be found here:
- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/road-and-rail-transport/11982661/Ghost-stations-plan-on-London-Tube-faces-legal-challenge.html
- http://www.londonlovesbusiness.com/business-news/london-transport/heres-why-ghost-station-entrepreneur-ajit-chambers-is-suing-tfl/11329.article
- http://metro.co.uk/2015/12/22/9-secrets-and-little-known-things-about-the-london-underground-5561197/
Joseph Barrett and Akhlaq Choudhury KC of 11KBW acted for TfL in its successful defence of the claim for judicial review.
