Train passengers travelling between Essex and London have been warned to avoid using contactless payments and go back to using paper tickets, after a technical glitch left them being overcharged by up to £3 per journey. Many passengers were shocked to see the daily cost of their travel increase by up to £6, with no warning.
Rail operator c2c confirmed the issue, which began on Sunday 8 June, has affected travellers using contactless pay as you go for journeys between stations outside the Oyster Zone – including places like Southend, Leigh-on-Sea, Benfleet and Shoeburyness – and London termini at Fenchurch Street or Liverpool Street.
The train company has advised customers to switch to paper or e-tickets until the issue is resolved, which is expected by Sunday 29 June.
In a statement, the operator said: “Customers using pay as you go with contactless up until 28 June on the affected journeys will continue to be charged the additional fare, and these will be automatically refunded in the days following their journey.
“There is no need to contact TfL or c2c during this process. All affected customers, whether they hold a TfL account or not, will automatically receive the refund amount owed to them.”
The problem stemmed from a pre-planned update to the fares system, where incorrect data provided by c2c resulted in contactless users being wrongly charged an additional £3.
Transport for London (TfL) confirmed: “We are aware that, following a pre-planned update to the fares data within the contactless pay as you go system last weekend, some of the data provided by c2c was incorrect.”
TfL added that other contactless fares across London’s transport network remain unaffected.
Eleni Jordan, c2c’s Commercial and Interim Customer Director, said:
“c2c would again like to apologise to the small number of customers who have been affected by the technical issue and mistakenly charged an additional £3 for the contactless journeys they have made during this period. We are extremely sorry for any inconvenience caused and appreciate our customers’ understanding and patience while we work with TfL to process all of the required refunds.”
Refunds are being administered automatically by TfL, with the first payments expected to be issued this weekend.
Affected routes include those starting or ending at Fenchurch Street or Liverpool Street from stations outside Zone 6. However, journeys from Purfleet, Chafford Hundred, Grays and Ockendon are excluded from the issue, as are journeys entirely within the London Zonal system or involving changes at Upminster, Barking, West Ham, Stratford or Limehouse.
A commuter at Benfleet station said: “It’s frustrating. I’ve been overcharged for multiple days and I’m waiting for refunds. I’ve just gone back to paper tickets for now.”
The c2c train network will be will be re-nationalised by the government on 20th July 2025.
Passengers can continue using the Underground and other unaffected services as normal.