Rail user lobby group Rover and Translink, the company behind the public transport OV card, have won their case against an online service offering the cards for tens of euros over the official price.

Kings Online duped hundreds of buyers into believing they were purchasing cards from Translink and NS by using the same colours as the official providers, charging them €37.50 instead of €7.50, which is the normal rate for a personalised card.

“The judge has ruled that this falls under unfair trading practices and that Kings Online must take the pages offline,” Rover director Freek Bos said.

Bos said he hoped this was the “definitive blow” to Kings Online, which had ignored earlier warnings to stop the practice. Other providers, which also charged inflated prices, have also removed their pages.