to think the bus driver was out of order?

[baublegirl454]

My 12yr old son has a damaged oystercard - no visible sign of damage but it has stopped working. I have applied for a new one for him (at a cost of £10) but it hasn't come yet.
In the meantime he has been taking his old oystercard which works as photo ID, in order to get on to the bus.
However, the last 2 bus drivers have threatened not to take him as his card isn't working.
Surely, given that the journey is free and the Oyster only acts as ID, this is totally out of order? When I called TfL, she suggested that I buy him a child ticket every day until the new one comes. I think this is ridiculous - we've already paid out again for a replacement, I don't see why we should pay more for a free journey!
Also my son was quite shaken up by how nasty the driver was, and he's now a bit wary about getting on the bus tomorrow as it tends to be the same driver. It's not his fault that a) it's broken, and b) the new one hasn't arrived. I've complained, but I doubt that will make much difference. But I'm just intrigued to know if it's only me thinking that this is out of order, or if you all think I'm being unreasonable?

The thing is, the terms and conditions state they will have their Oyster privileges removed, if they're found to be engaging in anti-social behaviour.

So the drivers aren't to know who's had their cards cancelled and whose aren't working IYSWIM?

It's bloody annoying though and happened to my DS too.

Really WorraLiberty? I had no idea! That's really unhelpful when your the person with the broken card. Surely it would be easier to remove the card entirely from antisocial behaviour perpetrators?
Hmm, well that makes me see why at least, but it's a particularly unfair policy!

It's annoying but it's standard I'm afraid. My DS is forever losing his oyster and when he does I have a spare adult oyster which he takes instead. They have to be able to swipe, and if they don't have a swipe-able card then they need an alternative.

Some of the bus drivers are bloody miserable though.

My DP is a bus driver and he said if an inspector gets on and your DS does not have a valid working oyster card he could end up in trouble with the bosses. Up to and including going down the disaplinary route and for that reason if he saw a child a couple of times with a broken card he would refuse to let them on the bus

YABU. Don't they still have to swipe in and out so the journey is registered and the bus company paid for it?

That is such a crap policy. OK - so it's not the driver's fault, but I think TfL need to think about who this is benefiting. And I'll have to look at getting a spare Oyster for when this inevitably happens again.
Thanks for the input

I suppose they can't physically remove the card from the kids.

They can only cancel them and then of course, you'll get some chancers pretending they've just stopped working.

Do you have a receipt for the replacement card? Perhaps he could show them that and they (and any inspectors) might take pity on him?

That's a good idea - I'll print off the email so he can take that tomorrow as I have no way of getting an oyster between now and then. Would have helped if he had told me straight away, but he thought it was just a blip that it wasn't working.
The annoying thing is that there is no reason for it to have broken - no sign of damage at all, so it's not as if he is at fault e.g. if he had lost it.

It might help because I think most drivers just (understandably) want to cover themselves, in case the inspector gets on.

Yes it's weird how some of them just stop working.

It is crappy. This happened to DS1 once, he fell over at school and cracked it, and it stopped working, the other time there was no damage at all, it just didn't work.

With all the millions TFL spend on tech, I fail to see why the revoked oyster cards (surely there can only be a few, if any) can't be distinguished from ones which have just stopped working. It's not the child's fault. What if the problem occurs midway through a journey? I think bus drivers have a duty of care to ensure children aren't left without a means of getting home, especially in these dark evenings. A lot of children I know don't always take their mobiles to school (because they're not allowed to have them in school / risk of mugging etc) so would be stranded and unable to ring a parent.

All feels a bit unnecessarily draconian.

As for the suggestion of drivers facing disciplinary action, that's highly unlikely. Bus companies would be on very dodgy ground there, and would be unlikely to pursue it given the obvious reputational damage once it hit the press.

As an aside, my other gripe re (adult) oyster cards is the face you can't replace a non working one other than at an underground station - some parts of London are a considerable distance from the underground - I'm in zone 5, but I'd have to go all the way into London Bridge if mine stopped working (it has twice, fortunately both times just before I was due to make a trip to London...).

We had to order DS replacement Oyster last night, DP told me that old card (which he lost) is now cancelled and he can't use it. Doesn't address the attitude of the driver but just to let you know -once new card ordered old one obsolete so it will be refused every time.

Had no idea about that either VelvetSpoon - I'm in zone 6 and L Bridge would also be my closest! That would be a right pain. I always use contactless so I don't bother having one (and don't travel in that much).

Thanks all, useful to have the input.

They've replaced undamaged cards free of charge when I've ordered them.

The bus drivers in our area seem to be nice on the whole. At least DSs have not had any problems with broken or even forgotten Oyster cards.

Do they have a magnetic strip in them? If so, could he have put it next to something like an iPad or something else with a magnet in it that would affect the strip?

They have a chip them like a contactless debit card.