"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
In message , at 10:36:33
on Sun, 13 Jul 2008, Steve Dulieu
remarked:
According to a staff bulletin put out Saturday morning, a "corrupted
electronic file" uploaded overnight meant that any oyster used before
09:30 was hotlisted and permanently disabled. The figure on the bulletin
that I saw said that it could be as many as 100,000 cards that had been
killed. The, admittedly few, stations I went through yesterday all had
their gates set open, so no-one would need to touch in or out to access
the system or leave

Interesting. The media is mainly covering the aspect (which sounds from
your information like a hoax) that people only-touching-out, later in the
day, will pay penalty fares. If no-one is touching out at all (and indeed
100k people couldn't touch out anyway) this sounds improbable.

TFL is compounding the situation by saying that these penalty fares will
be cancelled automatically in a special operation.

A further bulletin has set out the procedure for cards that have been
disabled...

"Customers who present disabled cards should be referred to the ticket
office. If the ticket office is closed or the queue very long then customers
with disabled cards should be permitted to travel and invited to visit the
ticket office at their destination if possible.
Presented cards should be checked via the TOM to see if it can be read, if
it can then follow normal procedure.
If a card cannot be read, then the normal failed card procedure should be
used.
Where a customer advises that the disabled card held either less than £10 of
PAYG value or any weekly travelcard then a replacement can be issued
immediately with no further checks necessary. The amount or remaining days
of the weekly indicated by the customer should be loaded on the card.
If the customer advises that the card held a higher PAYG value than £10 or a
longer period travel card, you should call the CSC on auto XXXX to validate
their details prior to issue. If you cannot get through, advise the customer
that they can travel using their oyster card for visual inspection only and
should return to the ticket office later.
If the card is of a type that cannot be replaced at a ticket office - eg a
freedom pass - then the customer should be advised to follow the usual
replacement procedure. Freedom pass holders should be advised to contact the
council of issue. Child photocard holders should apply for a replacement by
using the number on the back of the card."

Apparently extra supplies of oyster blanks and gateline passes are being
distributed to busy stations, as well as RCIs being deployed at key
locations to provide support.
The same bulletin also says that customers who were within the system before
09:30 "may" have been charged a maximum fare on exit. It says that this will
be addressed automatically via gatelines on Tuesday morning.

Hope this goes some way towards helping people understand what's going on.
--
Cheers, Steve.
Change jealous to sad to reply.