The London congestion charge system went down yesterday
afterIBM took over the contractfrom Capita.
Customers that registered online to pay congestion charges could
not access the system because of a "technical glitch" on Monday 2
November.
Transport for London (TfL) transferred data on the system from
Capita systems to IBM over the weekend. The transfer went well but
left registered users unable to pay the charge.
A TfL spokeswoman said the problem was sorted out by the
afternoon. "Nobody [in the group affected] will be penalised.
Another reason it is not a big issue is that charges can be paid
the day after.
"We apologise for the problems that some customers may have
experienced in accessing the Congestion Charge online payment
accounts. These were resolved and all of the new IBM systems are up
and running as they should be.
"During the glitch, customers were still able to pay their
charge via the other payment channels available, for example,
through the call centre, via SMS and at their local shops," she
said.
IBM's takeover of the operation of the congestion charging
scheme includes an upgrade of the computer systems, which will save
TfL £200m over the life of the current business plan.
