HUNDREDS of students from the region are suing their universities because of lost teaching time during strikes by lecturers.

More than 400 students from Durham University, around 100 from Newcastle and 50 from York are among more than 5,000 to have signed up to a class action group seeking compensation for classes cancelled this year.

Lectures and other classes were cancelled in February and March after members of the University and College Union (UCU) went on strike.

The law firm behind the group action, Asserson, says the claim has risen to £5m.

Shimon Goldwater, a senior solicitor at Asserson, said it was one of the largest student group legal actions ever to have been launched in the UK.

He added: “The compensation claim against universities is building rapidly.

“Students are telling us that they have been following advice from their unions and the universities to use standard complaints procedures when asking for compensation, with absolutely no sign of progress.

“In fact, we have not heard of a single instance of a student receiving proper financial compensation for cancelled teaching time.

“Universities are presumably hoping that this problem will go away, but this claim shows that thousands of students are not willing to sit by and pay for a service which was cancelled.”

Analysis of the sign ups shows Durham had the second highest number of students taking part.

According to the law firm, Russell Group universities saved around £8m in salaries from striking staff.

The UCU says the strikes affected around a million students, with the loss of 575,000 teaching hours.