Pensioners told to expect delay with bus passes (From The Oxford Times)

Pensioners told to expect delay with bus passes

9:40am Saturday 18th August 2012 in News

PENSIONERS could be left waiting for their bus passes after a computer glitch corrupted personal data files.

About 1,000 computer files were damaged, which means one per cent of pass users could have to wait slightly longer for their cards to arrive.

Oxfordshire County Council spokesman Paul Smith said: “The transfer of bus pass records from the district and city councils to the county council took place in March this year, prior to the county council taking on responsibility for issuing them the following month.

“During this process, computer files relating to around one per cent of bus pass holders were corrupted due to a technical fault. In most cases this meant we were unable to access bus pass photographs.”

He assured pass users that no personal details had been lost by the authority, and could not fall into the wrong hands.

All 1,000 people believed to have been affected need to call the county council to renew their passes manually.

Mr Smith said: “Our advice to bus pass holders is that there is no need to contact us unless you have not received a new pass one week prior to the expiry of your existing pass.

“For those affected we will then process a fresh application and update our records.”