TfL Restores Contactless Refund Service Following Cyber Attack

Transport for London (TfL) has announced the reinstatement of its online refund service for passengers using contactless cards or mobile devices for journeys, which had been unavailable since a cyber attack in September. Additionally, customers can now view their journey history online, a feature that has been inaccessible for the past three months. This restoration coincides with the re-establishment of systems supporting concession travel, including 18+ student and 60+ Oyster photocards. According to TfL’s most recent statement, this signifies the conclusion of the systems outage, with all fares services now fully operational. TfL reported detecting suspicious network activity on 1 September, prompting the organization to limit access to certain online system components to conduct “safety checks.” With the contactless section of its online system now operational again, TfL stated that both passengers and its own staff “can now access both Oyster and contactless journey history, correct incomplete journeys and process service delay refunds if required.” TfL cautioned that customers might experience delays when contacting customer services as the existing backlog is addressed. It recommended that users log into their accounts to rectify any incomplete journeys and submit refund requests digitally. The transport authority also confirmed that it is processing refunds for individuals with photocard concessions who were overcharged for their travel during the period when the systems were offline. Furthermore, TfL stated that expired 5-10 and 11-15 Zip Oyster photocards will remain valid for use until 31 December. Shashi Verma, TfL’s chief technology officer, commented: “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.” He added: “We apologise for any inconvenience that this incident has caused our customers.”