Some 5,000 Dutch Volkswagen owners have signed up for a class action law suit against the German car maker and its Dutch dealers for fiddling with pollution figures.

The first hearing will take place on April 19 in Amsterdam, lawyer Oscar van Oorschot told BNR radio on Tuesday. If it then emerges that Volkswagen deliberately manipulated the cars’ software ‘we will have taken a first step’, Van Oorschot said.

Experts will then begin assessing how much damage car owners have suffered and calling witnesses for the next round. What is clear is that the use of the software has reduced engine capacity and that it is more difficult to get a good price for a second hand Volkswagen, the lawyer told BNR.

The foundation Volkswagen Audi Claim estimates the damages to be between €3,000 and €6,000 per person.