Web crash halts student discounts

Ashley Brown said students from across London were affected

London's students are being forced to pay full price for Oyster-card journeys when they should get a 30% discount.

Students have been unable to complete online applications for Transport for London's (TfL) 18+ Student Oyster Photocard after the website crashed.

TfL said they were "working hard to urgently resolve" the problems, which were due to high demand, and asked people to apply out of office hours.

They said there would be no refunds for the students who have missed out.

Some reported paying about twice as much as they would normally.

'Exceptional demand'

Shama Rhaman, a student living in London, told BBC News: "I'm definitely not very happy at all.

"I'm ending up spending over £30 a week now, compared to the £16 I would usually pay for a weekly travel card."

Ashley Brown, editor of Imperial College's student news website, discovered the problem was city-wide after hearing complaints from students at universities across London.

He told BBC News: "People were being charged double, they were not able to upload their photos properly."

A TfL spokeswoman said: "The TfL website has experienced exceptionally high levels of demand as London students apply for 18+ Oyster Student Photocards.

"This has lead to some temporary website problems which we are working hard to urgently resolve."

A spokeswoman for London Travel Watch, a transport users advocacy group, said they had yet to have any complaints about the problems.

TfL apologised and urged people to access the site outside of office hours.

They said that 46,000 online applications had been processed since 1 September.