Published Thursday 15 January 2026 at 16:17
Blackburn with Darwen Council has been successful in a key step to continue with its full recovery of the substantial legal costs it incurred after defeating a £1.7m claim from contractors Thomas Barnes & Sons.
It comes after the company were terminated from Blackburn’s Bus station construction contract in June 2015.
Thomas Barnes & Sons had initially tried to claim £3m from Blackburn with Darwen Council, later reducing to £1.7m before the case was heard . Following an 11-day High Court trial in October 2022, their claim was dismissed.
In relation to the recovery of the Council’s legal costs in defending the claim, a further High Court judgement was handed down on Tuesday, (January 13). Thomas Barnes & Sons PLC v Blackburn With Darwen Borough Council [2026] EWHC 24 (TCC) (13 January 2026)
Speaking after the judgement, Asad Laher, Deputy Director of Legal & Governance at the Council, said:
“The Council is very pleased with the High Court’s judgement on the Non-Party Costs Order, which enables us to continue recovering the significant legal costs it incurred in successfully defending a claim brought by Thomas Barnes & Sons.
“The Council had no choice but to robustly defend what was a long-running, multi-million-pound claim that lacked merit and incurred significant costs in doing so .
“This claim was heard over an 11-day High Court trial in October 2022 which was ruled in the Council’s favour.
“As a local authority we should not be left to bear the financial burden when we had to strongly defend a long-running multi-million pound claim, which was meritless.
“The judgement supports the Council in protecting local taxpayers and reinforces the principle that public bodies should not be exposed to unrecovered legal costs where claims are pursued for private financial gain.”