TfL brings forward off-peak time

Commuters will be given a refund if they have been overcharged

Transport for London (TfL) has moved forward its off-peak time by four minutes after it was found that commuters may have been overcharged.

The decision came after BBC London reported that thousands who use pay-as-you-go Oyster cards could be paying extra due to faulty clocks.

TfL has also offered a refund to passengers who feel they may have been charged peak-time rates.

About 450,000 commuters a year could have been overcharged.

'Beggars belief'

Commuter Mathew Marks said he was charged peak-rate fares at Colliers Wood Tube station, despite travelling at one minute after off-peak had begun - 1901BST.

"I was astonished because anyone who designs a distributed computer system like this ought to be able to get the timing to within a second and when it is inaccurate up to two minutes, it beggars belief," he said.

Mr Marks said TfL had yet to respond to a letter he has written to them about the problem.

A TfL spokesperson said only a small proportion of clocks were not fully synchronised with the central clock, but added that this would be rectified within a week.

"The difference is usually just a few seconds. We calculate this affects less than 0.1% of Oyster pay-as-you-go journeys and 0.02% of all journeys."

"The technology in the ticket gatelines, some of which are now 20 years old, is being upgraded as part of Transport for London's £10bn investment programme."

Anyone who may have been affected by this issue has been advised to contact the Oyster Helpline on 0845 3309876.