Five investors, advised to pump money into a film tax avoidance scheme, have won their £2.6m claim against their advisers.

The Financial Ombudsman Service ruled that advice given by IFA 20Twenty Independent Ltd to invest in Crossover Film Partnerships, promoted by Crossover Capita, had 'misrepresented' the scheme and that the 'future potential liabilities' were 'not suitable' or 'properly explained'.

The ruling is likely to open the floodgates to a raft of similar actions by wealthy individuals.

Claims management business, Rebus Investment Solutions, which acted for the investors, said it expects to recover up to £10m for its 600 customers through a wealth of separate claims by the end of the year.

Martin Taylor, head of client relations at Rebus, said: 'It's often wrongly assumed that the primary risk of any UCIS investment is whether it will be successful in being awarded tax relief and what is often overlooked is the fact that the majority of UCIS products are highly-leveraged, with many of these risky investments structured using full recourse loans. The structure of these products is so complex that many people simply do not know what they are buying into.

'The facts of this case are particularly concerning: one of the clients in question was advised that putting money in this scheme was safer than putting it into his mortgage. Another was advised that this would be an ideal vehicle for school fees planning. When advisers do not fulfil their regulatory requirements, investors can be led to believe that they are protected by either the income generated by the scheme, or bank guarantees. It is not until the investment fails that they find themselves in a position where they are held liable to significantly more than their initial investment.'

Taylor said that while it was 'a notable success for his clients', the FOS can only enforce an award of £100,000 maximum - for claims submitted before 1 January 2012 , despite each individual facing much larger losses as a result of mis-selling.

But he added: 'Now that the Ombudsman has recommended that the loan repayment should be included in a settlement, we're looking into recovering the remaining amount through the courts.'

Earlier this month, Rebus announced that it was representing around 12 Premier League footballers seeking recompense from a number of financial advisors who urged them to invest in unregulated collective investment schemes (UCIS).

Players from clubs with the highest exposure to potential losses included Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham, West Ham, Chelsea, Newcastle, Everton and Manchester City, Rebus said.

Last year the Financial Services Authority (FSA) urged a ban on the selling of such schemes.

No one from 20Twenty Independent Ltd was available for comment.