TfL reopens Zip Oyster applications with refund promise for those 'who paid more than should have'

Applications for new Zip Oyster photocards for children aged five to 16+ are now being accepted by Transport for London (TfL), after they were temporarily paused following a recent brutal cyber attack. Zip Oyster cards for children come in three categories - 5-10, 11-15 and 16-17. It follows TfL reopening Oystercard concessions for pensioners, students and others in recent weeks. It means all photocard concessions are available once again.

TfL intends to refund customers who have paid more for their travel than they should have, due to TfL not being able to accept new photocard applications. TfL plans to write to photocard customers who were impacted by not being able to apply for a new Photocard with further details about how to apply for refunds and the criteria for processing these.

TfL says it has been continually monitoring its systems to ensure only those authorised can gain access, following a serious cyber attack on September 1. TfL identified suspicious activity and took immediate action to secure its network, ensuring all safety critical systems and processes were maintained.

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Shashi Verma, Chief Technology Officer at TfL said: "We’re pleased that we can now accept photocard applications for all concessions managed by TfL and will be working hard to process these as quickly as possible. We apologise for any inconvenience that this has caused our customers.

"Following the recent highly sophisticated cyber security incident, we have been working to restore systems which we had to take offline as part of our mitigations. We are now able to start processing refunds for those requiring refunds for journeys made using Oyster or paper tickets. We hope to shortly contact all new photocard customers who those who were impacted by not being able to apply for their new photocard, as well as continue work to allow us to begin processing refunds for contactless journeys, and for customers to be able to see their full journey history again."

TfL has worked closely with the National Crime Agency and the National Cyber Security Centre following the hack attack and notified the Information Commissioner's Office. As part of the measures to deal with the incident, TfL decided to pause new concession photocard applications while it undertook security checks.

With the concession photocard website now fully back online again, TfL is working to process all new photocard applications as quickly as possible. Already, more than 30,000 18+ Student photocards, more than 10,000 60+ London Oyster photocards and nearly 600 Apprentice photocards have been processed and dispatched since applications reopened.

TfL and train operating companies across London continue 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, 2024.

This gives expired Zip photocard holders plenty of time to apply for their new concession photocard. Parents and guardians of those with expired Zip photocards are encouraged to apply as soon as possible for a new photocard for their children or dependent to help ensure that they receive one before the end of the year. Expired photocards will not be accepted for travel on TfL or train operating company services from 1 January 2025.

Photocard applications can be made via photocard.tfl.gov.uk. For the latest information on TfL’s recovery from the cyber security incident can found here – tfl.gov.uk/campaign/cyber-security-incident.

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