Lost Oyster Card - Unregistered

llyamah

Hello All

Before I start, I know I have been stupid. I loaded £40 onto an unregistered oyster card and now cannot find it. I do not know the card number.

I called Oyster on Sunday and they said that if I knew all of the payment details (i.e. where I topped up, when, whether it was from a ticket booth or self service touchscreen, the first six and last four digits of the card, and the expiry date) then they could locate the payment and therefore the card number. They would need to pass it on to their Revenue team to look at.

I received a phone call from Oyster today; they could not find the card "because there was no card registered to my name". I explained that of course there wouldn't be, and that their Revenue team must have not realised that this card would be completely unregistered. They say there is nothing they can do; even if they could match a payment to a card, they could not help because it is in their terms and conditions and because it would breach data protection to tell me the card details. I don't see how it would breach data protection because I am not asking for someones personal information. They even said that they couldn't be sure it was my card; I could have been topping up someone elses card (even though I explained that all payments to the card, including the actual purchase of the card, have been from my credit card).

Long and short, I know I have been careless, but is there anything that I can do? It is a bit annoying that one person tells you one thing then when you get to the end of the enquiry they say that they cannot and will not help. I have even logged another call today and prompted this solution - no concerns were raised. I am working on the premise that this call will have the same end result.

Thoughts please but, please, I repeat that I know I have been careless and should have registered the card.

shaun_from_Africa

because it would breach data protection to tell me the card details.

The Data protection act seems to have replaced "I will get someone to call you back" as the way many companies now choose to avoid doing something.
The DPA only applies to data from which a living person can be identified, and an oyster card number certainly doesn't fall into this category.

They even said that they couldn't be sure it was my card; I could have been topping up someone elses card (even though I explained that all payments to the card, including the actual purchase of the card, have been from my credit card).

I do agree with them on this point.
My other half recently switched to a pay as you go deal for their mobile phone, and as all of their credit cards are registered to their address in overseas, they can't be used to top up the phone so all of the credit that has been added has been from one of my cards.

Flyboy152

Aah....the old, "it's against the Data Protection Act," excuse.

Ask them to cite the section of the DPA that relates to their reasons for not complying with your request.

And yes, you were very stupid to put that kind of money on an unregistered card.

llyamah

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I guess they do have a point there and I understand why you are in agreement with them, but this oyster card has only ever been topped up with my credit card. It was even purchased with my credit card. Surely that is indicative that it is my oyster card!

Any thoughts on how I could pursuade them to give me the oyster card number? I do have one plan if my current call does not work; I will ring up and say that I made a payment on X date and it does not appear to have been loaded onto my card. When they ask for my card number, I will give them the number of a card that is registered to me (the lost/unregistered one is a spare - I happened to only have that one on me when I needed to top up). They will hopefully investigate by looking up the payment and say that it went onto a different card - hopefully they will tell me the card number that it actually went on.

Can you think of any problems with that approach? Any other ideas?!

Flyboy152

llyamah wrote: »

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I guess they do have a point there and I understand why you are in agreement with them, but this oyster card has only ever been topped up with my credit card. It was even purchased with my credit card. Surely that is indicative that it is my oyster card!

Any thoughts on how I could pursuade them to give me the oyster card number? I do have one plan if my current call does not work; I will ring up and say that I made a payment on X date and it does not appear to have been loaded onto my card. When they ask for my card number, I will give them the number of a card that is registered to me (the lost/unregistered one is a spare - I happened to only have that one on me when I needed to top up). They will hopefully investigate by looking up the payment and say that it went onto a different card - hopefully they will tell me the card number that it actually went on.

Can you think of any problems with that approach? Any other ideas?!

It is not likely to be very fruitful, as they are likely to use the same excuse. In which case ask them to cite the section of the DPA to which their excuse relates. They of course will most likely be unable to answer, so ask them to escalate it to someone who can. Of course that person either does not take calls, or "is in a meeting," so you may have to be patient. Your next step is to write to them explaining everything, including all the dates and times etc. and hope they will acquiesce.

surreysaver

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

The DPA only applies to data from which a living person can be identified, and an oyster card number certainly doesn't fall into this category.

It does if it is registered, or it can be linked with a credit card or CCTV that was pointing at the machine when it was being topped up.

spiro

If you look on the TFL website about Oyster cards the whole section on lost/stolen cards it refers to 'registered' cards. Unregistered cards are probably the same as the combined company id & vend cards we have at work, you have to treat them as cash.

shaun_from_Africa

It does if it is registered, or it can be linked with a credit card or CCTV that was pointing at the machine when it was being topped up

But how can just the number of the oyster card alone make any of the above situations possible?
It can't.

If the card is registered then the name of the person whose name it is in will have to be given, which the OP did not ask for.
It's the same with CCTV or a credit card. The OP would have to have been given information which they didn't request.

The oyster card number on its own is not protected data under the DPA.

llyamah

Flyboy152 wrote: »

And yes, you were very stupid to put that kind of money on an unregistered card.

Thanks for the clarification :beer:
Seriously though, thanks for the reply. I will ask them to cite that particular section.

The odd thing is, when I log a call they do not seem to raise any concerns with this approach. Then someone rings me back and says they cannot find the card (because they are looking for one registered to my name) and, even if they could, they wouldn't give me the details.

It'll be interesting to see if I get the same response the second time. I am hoping that I just need to get a bit lucky and get through to the right person.

pmduk

The Data Protection Act and "Health and Safety" are the 2 main reasons for companies avoiding doing anything they wish, regardless of whether either issue is actually involved.

llyamah

Just got a call from Oyster - they found the oyster card on their system and are going to refund the balance to my other (registered!) card.

Lesson learnt, no harm done!