Around 2.3 million BT customers could be entitled to compensation after being overcharged for landlines, a law firm says.

Mishcon de Reya has filed claims at the Competition Appeal Tribunal which they say could result in payments of between £200 and £500 for each person affected.

The case relates to historic prices for BT’s landline-only deal between 2015 and 2018.

In 2018, the company reduced the price of line rental from £18.99 to £11.99 a month, a saving of £84 a year.

It came after Ofcom found ‘serious concerns about soaring bills’ for landline customers, many who are elderly as, according to Ofcom, around 43% of landline-only customers are aged 75 and over

Although BT cut prices prices voluntarily after the review, nobody who had been paying the increased rate was given compensation.

The new legal action is designed to force them to do so.

BT said it ‘strongly disagreed’ with the action, adding it had offered discounted landline and broadband packages for years.

The claim is being made on behalf of Justin Le Patourel, the Claimant Representative and founder of Call (Collective Action on Land Lines).

Mr Patourel is a telecoms consultant who previously worked for Ofcom.

He said: ‘Ofcom made it very clear that BT had spent years overcharging landline customers but did not order it to repay the money it made from this.

‘We think millions of BT’s most loyal landline customers could be entitled to compensation of up to £500 each, and the filing of this claim starts that process’.

Natasha Pearman of Mishcon de Reya said: ‘This is a specialist claim that will be heard before the Competition Appeal Tribunal.

‘It will take time to gather evidence and bring it to trial, but we are very confident that eventually millions of BT’s most loyal customers – many of whom are older and potentially vulnerable – will receive a significant rebate.’

BT said in a statement: ‘We strongly disagree with the claim being brought against us.

‘We take our responsibilities to older and more vulnerable customers very seriously and will defend ourselves against any claim that suggests otherwise.

‘For many years we’ve offered discounted landline and broadband packages in what is a competitive market, and take pride in our work with elderly and vulnerable groups, as well as our work on the customer fairness agenda.

‘We continue to offer a variety of packages to support our customers through the pandemic.’

Rocio Concha, director of policy and advocacy at consumer group Which?, said: ‘Which? has campaigned long and hard for an effective collective redress scheme, but with no claim under the new regime reaching a full trial, consumers have not yet had the results they need.

‘If successful, this opt-out action would be welcomed by many BT customers who were found to have been historically overcharged for years, but saw no refund as a result.’

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