25/07/2008

Commuter's Free Ticket To Ride As Oyster Card Crashes

London's Oyster card system has been shut down today for the second time in two weeks due to technical issues.

The latest problem means that ticket barriers are being kept open at all stations until the problem is rectified.

The first time chaos hit the transport network, 40,000 customers were left with corrupted cards.

The cards are used as a form of payment on the Tube, trams and the Docklands Light Railway.

A Transport for London (TFL) spokesman said "there is currently a technical problem with Oyster readers at London Underground stations which is affecting pay-as-you-go cards only".

"Ticket barriers have been opened to minimise any disruption to passengers whilst engineers work to resolve the problem.

"We apologise for any inconvenience caused to our passengers," he said.

An automatic refund will be given to any passenger who is charged the maximum £4 fare as a result of not being able "to touch in and out at the beginning and end of their journeys".

The spokesman added that the problem "like the last problem, resulted from incorrect data tables being sent out by our contractor".

It is not thought the latest technical hitch will disable cards.

The two hitches have cost TFL hundreds of thousands of pounds in lost revenue.

It is believed that Transys an investigation into the initial breakdown has yet to be completed.

Around 17 million cards have been issued since the introduction of the Oyster system in 2003.

(DS)

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