Thousands of motorists in the UK have launched a lawsuit against Volkswagen following the company's emission cheating scandal.

Some 10,000 VW owners are seeking £30m - or £3,000 each - after they bought cars which were secretly rigged to beat environmental tests.

The company paid more than €17bn in compensation to 500,000 drivers in the US - but EU rules mean that it is unlikely that drivers will receive similar pay-outs on this side of the Atlantic. Instead they will be offered repairs.

These British drivers claim that they paid more for their cars because they thought they were buying 'clean' diesel cars.

The German company said that it will "robustly" fight this legal challenge.

FBI

Meanwhile, in the US Oliver Schmidt - who was the head of VW's regulatory compliance office in the US when the cheating took place - has been arrested by the FBI.

He has been charged with conspiracy to defraud the US - according to The New York Times.

The company has admitted that 475,000 cars in the US were fitted with "defeat devices" to fool emission tests. The vehicles' emissions were actually up to 40 times legal pollutant limits.

VW told the newspaper that it will continue to co-operate with the US Department of Justice - and that "it would not be appropriate to comment on any ongoing investigations or to discuss personnel matters."