C-charge computer glitch risked security of drivers’ bank details

A computer problem at the congestion charge payments centre has led to fears that drivers’ security details could have been compromised, it was claimed today.

Motorists were told to give Transport for London contractor IBM their credit or debit card number and three-digit security code when its online payments system crashed for 24 hours.

Lee Bearton, a motorist whose wife Marianne was unable to pay, told the Standard he refused to give his security code after his bank, Barclays, told him not to do so if he thought details might be held in an “unsafe” manner. He said: “Barclays said no company should ask you to do this and it was clearly not a secure method of keeping details. Our bank was telling us not to give out the information, and TfL were telling us we could not pay if we didn’t give the information.

“The bank was saying that if there was any fraud on our account, we would not be covered if we gave out the three-digit security information.” TfL said the payments system crashed at 9.30pm last Thursday and took until Friday evening to restore.

A message on its website told drivers seeking to pay the £10 weekday charge to phone the call centre. They were then told that details would be written down and asked whether they wanted to proceed. Mr Bearton said his wife was threatened with a late payment fee but the call centre eventually relented.

TfL says it will “seek to ensure” that no motorist who was unable to pay will be penalised. A spokesman insisted that all forms used to log drivers’ bank details would be destroyed in compliance with the Data Protection Act.

A Barclays spokesman said the advice Mr Bearton was given was appropriate. “By having it written down, you allow your information to be captured.”

A Transport for London spokesperson said: "One day last week there were issues with the Congestion Charge website which meant online payments could not be processed. Call Centre staff offered customers the option of paying manually over the phone.

“The manual payment method is approved and certified by the Payment Card Industry. It is ridiculous to suggest that there was any security risk to customers payment details.”