Major legal action could see up to 70,000 Northern Ireland drivers affected by the Volkswagen emissions scandal compensated.

Edwards and Co Solicitors, based in Belfast, has issued proceedings in the High Court on behalf of clients, The Irish News reports.

In 2015, the German car giant admitted it had fitted 11 million diesel cars worldwide with software intended to cheat emissions tests.

The figure included 1.2 million cars in the UK.

VW has become embroiled in a number of lawsuits in various countries as a result of the scandal.

Edwards & Co is the first law firm in Northern Ireland seeking compensation for car owners who bought vehicles promoted as running on “clean diesel”.

Dorcas Crawford, senior partner at the firm, said: “In the context of this truly global dispute, we wanted to ensure that the rights of our current clients, and Northern Ireland consumers in general, were not left behind - hence the issue of proceedings today.

“We are pursuing the Volkswagen Group, and a number of its subsidiaries, in the Northern Ireland High Court, in what will ultimately proceed as a group action. This will enable us to represent all those affected within the framework of one case.”