People who pay for their rail and bus journeys using a phone or contactless bank card can now apply for refunds if they have been overcharged in the aftermath of the cyber attack on Transport for London.
TfL announced on Wednesday that passengers who use contactless will also be able to access their online journey history for the first time in three months, after the transport authority had restricted access to the system while it “undertook important security checks”.
Until a few weeks ago, and since the cyber attack was identified at the start of September, children aged between 11 and 17, university students, and older people over the age of 60 had all been unable to apply for new Oyster photocards - which would have entitled them to discounted travel.
Applications reopened in stages over the course of last month, but Londoners who had been using their contactless bank card or phone to pay for their journeys in the meantime had been unable to look back at their full journey history, if they wanted to understand how much more they had been paying for their travel.
With that journey history now available to view once more, TfL is encouraging Londoners who have been overcharged in the interim to apply for a refund.
For young people and students who were unable to submit an application for a ‘Zip’ card or an 18+ photocard, but have now applied for one, a refund will apply for the period between the point at which they became eligible for the card up to when their new card was dispatched.
TfL will also refund all journeys for anyone who has applied for a 60+ photocard between the date they turned 60, and when their card was dispatched.
TfL has said it is “in the process of writing to customers who have successfully applied for a new photocard to explain the criteria for refunds and how to apply for these”. The Standard understands that the process will essentially involve contacting TfL’s customer services team and providing them with the start and end dates of the period in which they should have been receiving discounted fares.
Passengers who have been using a standard Oyster card to pay for their travel as a temporary measure - rather than a contactless bank card - would normally be unable to see their journey history stretching back further than eight weeks. But TfL told the Standard that Oyster journeys going back to the start of the cyber incident in September will still be possible to access by calling customer services.
People who aren’t entitled to discounted travel, and who have been using their contactless cards as normal during the last three months, will also for the first time be able to apply for refunds for ‘incomplete journeys’. These occur when someone taps in or out using a faulty card reader, or simply forgets to tap in or out for a particular journey.
Using their now available online history, those passengers will be able to log in and check whether they can apply for money back from any such journeys.
TfL and train operating companies across London are continuing to accept expired 5-10 and 11-15 Zip Oyster photocards, where they are normally valid, in light of the cyber security incident until December 31.
TfL says that this will give “expired Zip photocard holders plenty of time to apply for their new concession photocard”.
But parents and guardians of those with expired Zip photocards have been encouraged by TfL to apply for a new photocard as soon as possible, to help ensure they are ready to use in the New Year. The transport authority has warned that expired photocards will not be accepted for travel on TfL or train operating company services from January 1.
Shashi Verma, TfL’s chief technology officer, said: “We're pleased that customers can now access their contactless journey history again, meaning that all TfL fares services impacted by the recent cyber incident are now reinstated. We apologise for any inconvenience that this incident has caused our customers.
“We are now able to process contactless and Oyster refunds for those requiring them, though customers should anticipate there may be some delays due to the expected backlog.
“We have also contacted all new photocard customers who were impacted by not being able to apply for their new photocard.
“I want to also personally thank our engineers and customer services teams who have worked hard during this incident to support customers and restore services.”
