To think that they make it purposefully impossible to apply successfully for an over 60’s bus pass?

[GreekDogRescue]

I am over 60 and have been trying to apply for my over 60’s Oyster card for some time now.

I have my passport, my driving licence, utility bills, my NI number and inside leg measurement but the online form refuses to accept the photo of my passport. It also refuses to let accept my driving licence details.

instead of asking for your passport or driving licence number like any ‘normal’ form, it wants all the tiny letters and symbols at the bottom, and they have to be put into 5 special boxes.

it says I can download a form to take to a post office but gives no details of this mythological form.

I went to a post office but they said they stopped doing over 60’s applications ‘ages ago’.

I have paid my taxes all my life and am furious that this is being made so difficult. It is highly discriminatory as there will be many elderly people who just give up. None of my over 60 friends have managed to crack it either.

I would like to sue London Transport for age discrimination 🤬

PS. I did manage to submit my passport application online but this is MUCH harder

You need to go even further north. You'd have a bus pass for free (over 60) in Scotland.

From the TFL page

“colour image of your valid, machine-readable passport. This must be in .png or .jpg format and be less than 6MB“

could this be your issue?

Isn't using your OH's a breach of the terms and conditions, otherwise I could hand my disabled pass to anyone who fancied using it 🙄

Hope you sort it out OP

YANBU

I expect so.

London, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland it's 60.

Rest of England ( where most of us live) it's the pension age of a woman.

Less money to spend.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnett_formula

I got mine at 60, but that was 7 years ago, so it may have changed.

Getting it was a doddle. Fill in the form, pop into the library with form, photo and ID, the librarian verified it, and I got the pass in the post a few days later.

Of course, in a small town in a rural county, it doesn't get a lot of use, but getting it was a breeze.

I did my dads renewal online. I don’t remember it being particularly difficult but obviously it’s a different process via our own council. He’s 85 though and would have struggled to do it online himself. I assume there is a paper version of the form but equally he struggles to write now due to arthritis so would still need assistance.

I had similar trouble with the bairns bus pass. The photo just wouldn't upload, I had to get another one done at the machine and it had to be uploaded in jpg. It was a right pain in the arse. Took ages to figure it out.

@Keroppi Well as an elderly person lol, I have nothing else to do but spend my whole week figuring this out 🤣
Getting my passport online was a piece of cake compared to this.
I guess the thought of actually getting something back after a lifetime of being drained by the taxman is AN IMPOSSIBLE DREAM

Are you normally given to hyperbole?

@Allywill We dream of a paper version but the big state forbids this.
imagine people actually being able to claim their rightful benefits!

It'll be some minor mistake you've made in the form, I'd ring them or email with a complaint that'll get them moving. Sometimes you have to be assertive or you'll end up being so stressed out by it. You'll get there

@ilovesooty
is that you, Sadiq Khan? 🧌
Where is the hyperbole in wanting to claim what is rightfully yours from the big state who are quite happy to tax the life out of you?
when they want money for a fine they can track you down in a nanosecond but yet to get a legal entitlement one must fill in 60,000 forms and take endless photos - all of which are rejected.
They also demand all the tiny letters at the bottom of your passport that nobody ever asks for (most forms only require your passport number).
But it’s a dream on steroids for public sector jobsworths.

60,000 forms. Hyperbole 🤣

Why can’t they let us do these things at the library or post office like in ye olden days.
it’s so discriminatory 🤬🧌

It took me about 30 seconds to renew my Senior Railcard on my phone this week.

(And it was straightforward when I did it the first time, too - though I’ve heard some people have struggled with it.)

A few decent trains would be nice …

Don’t feel peeved about public transport in London, get peeved with your own lack of public transport. I noticed when I was living up there temporarily, transport so shit in the north (well was in the north west), so get peeved at that, and deservedly so! That’s not the fault of us Londoners.

I thought people in London generally paid a lot less council tax than other areas? When I lived in Wandsworth it was hardly anything.

Personally I think it's outrageous that you get a free bus pass at 60. It should be 67 and rise in line with pension age. I suppose one justification might be to get people out of their cars in London where public transport is a genuine alternative, but I still think it's a bit unfair.

I don't know why prescriptions are free at 60, either.

I did mine at 5 past midnight on my 60th birthday. Later found out that you can apply a few weeks before.

I am usually hopeless at all these online forms and photos but this one went very smoothly.

OP, i suggest you post on GN.
and contact your local Age UK, they've probably got experience with the issues.
good luck.

Love my bus pass - it is a huge privilege - feel slightly embarrassed at work where staff apply for huge season ticket loans when earning a lot less than me.

the process is incredibly faffy - although mine did arrive on the day of my 60th birthday 😎
Also, watch out, they don't give you a lot of warning/reminders, but each anniversary you have to renew the credentials so that they know you're still based in London. About a week after my 61st, it just cut off with out warning, and I had to go through the application process again - they kept losing the application, so was about six weeks and an official complaint until I got the new one.

I don't recall it being that difficult, certainly didn't need to put tiny numbers in, just the main one.
A friend did tell me the reason why Londoners get it at 60 is because life expectancy is shorter here 😬.

She's young enough still to be in full time employment 🤣

In Manchester we can only get a bus pass when we reach NPA - so 66 for me.