Source: the Competition and Markets Authority press release Trainline, Virgin Atlantic and RED Driving School investigated for drip pricing, published 19 August 2026, and the CMA's three open case pages for Trainline, Virgin Atlantic and RED Driving School. All three investigations were opened on 18 August 2026 and the CMA has made no finding of wrongdoing.
A drip-priced fee arrives after you have chosen and entered your card details, which is the point at which you are least likely to walk away.
Our view: the cost of drip pricing is that it stops you comparing prices properly. If a mandatory fee sits outside the headline price, every comparison you make, between sellers, between dates, or between buying and not buying, is made on the wrong number. That makes it a budgeting problem as well as a fairness one.
What the CMA said
The CMA opened three consumer protection investigations on 18 August 2026, announced on 19 August. The concern in each is the same: whether mandatory fees were included in the total price shown to customers at the start of the buying process. The published figures:
- Trainline — whether all mandatory fees are in the upfront price for train and coach tickets bought in advance on the app and website. The CMA says it observed transactions with fees ranging from £0.59 to £2.79 for train travel, and a £1.50 booking fee on coach bookings.
- Virgin Atlantic — whether mandatory resort fees and local taxes are included in the upfront prices shown to customers buying package holidays. The CMA notes these vary but "can cost hundreds of pounds".
- RED Driving School — whether a mandatory booking fee and a "digital" fee, which the CMA puts at £7+ per booking, are included in the total upfront price.
All three firms had already been sent advisory letters in the CMA’s first consumer protection drive under its new powers, and the CMA says concerns remained after monitoring. The CMA can now order compensation for affected customers and fine up to 10% of global turnover. It says it has already secured more than £1.95 million in refunds and levied fines close to £6.2 million, with driving schools AA and BSM and ticketing site StubHub UK already fined and refunding customers over drip pricing.
Emma Cochrane, the CMA's Executive Director for Consumer Protection, put the principle in one sentence: "The first price customers see should be the price they pay."
Why the law is already on your side
The prohibition of unfair commercial practices in section 225 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 came into force on 6 April 2025. The CMA published dedicated price transparency guidance (CMA209) on 18 November 2025, covering drip pricing and partitioned pricing explicitly.
The rule has applied for over a year; this week, enforcement reached three more firms. If you have paid compulsory fees that appeared after the headline price since April 2025, the law was on your side.
What it costs a household
Illustrative. The fee amounts are the CMA's own published figures; how often this household buys is an assumption, stated so you can swap in your own.
Take a household with two adults who book advance train tickets through a reseller twice a month, a seventeen-year-old learning to drive with lessons booked individually, and one package holiday a year with a resort fee attached.
- Train bookings: 24 a year. At the bottom of the CMA's observed range (£0.59) that is £14; at the top (£2.79), £67. Call it £36 at a mid-range £1.50.
- Driving lessons: 30 individually booked lessons at the CMA's £7+ per booking figure — £210.
- Holiday resort fee: the CMA says these can run to hundreds of pounds. Take a conservative £200.
£446a year in charges that were not in any price this household compared
That is £37 a month, almost three times the £150 Warm Home Discount and more than double the largest £220 bank switching bonus currently on offer.
What to do this week
1. Run the two-tab test on your next three purchases. Before you buy anything online this week, open the seller you were about to use and one alternative — for train tickets, the train operator's own app or website alongside the reseller; for a holiday, the operator alongside a direct booking. Take the identical purchase to the final payment screen on both, and compare the number at the bottom, not the number in the advert. Do not buy on either until you have both totals in front of you. Our guide to cutting your bills covers other ways to cut household costs.
2. If you have already paid a fee that was not in the headline price, put it on the record. Complain to the seller in writing first, so there is a date and a paper trail. If that goes nowhere, the free Citizens Advice consumer service is on 0808 223 1133 — advisers can pass complaint details to Trading Standards, which you cannot do yourself, and the details are on the Citizens Advice consumer service page. You can also tell the CMA about a market problem directly. The CMA will not chase your individual refund. Keep your booking confirmations: if compensation is ordered, you will need to show what you were charged.
What is still uncertain, and when we will know
The CMA has reached no conclusions and made no finding against any of the three firms. Under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act there is no legal deadline by which a consumer investigation must be completed. The published case timetable for all three shows initial evidence gathering running from August 2026 to January 2027, with the next case update due in January 2027.
No refunds or fines have been ordered in these three cases. The rule itself has applied since April 2025: compare final prices, not headline ones. If the budget does not stretch however carefully you shop, start with budgeting basics, or go to free independent help via MoneyHelper, StepChange or National Debtline.
Coaching, not advice. This is a comment on a live consumer protection story and general money coaching — it is not regulated financial advice, and nothing here is a recommendation about any specific product, provider or firm. Buzz Money Coach is a trading style of Buzz Accounting Ltd, which is not authorised to give regulated advice and does not. Where regulated advice is what you need, we say so and can introduce you to Equity & General, authorised and regulated by the FCA (No. 474163) — entirely optional, and E&G pays us a commission on introductions that convert, disclosed to you upfront.