Oyster cards, passengers’ privacy and data protection laws | Letters

Lauren Sager Weinstein, Transport for London's chief data officer, explains what happens to its customers' information. Plus Jon Baines on the General Data Protection Regulation

We take protecting the privacy of our customers extremely seriously (How to keep data truly safe? Don't collect it in the first place, 4 April). Aside from cases where it is essential that we know the identity of a holder of an Oyster card - such as when checking customers are entitled for free or discounted travel - there is no requirement for anyone to share their personal details with us.

For all cards, including those Oyster cards where proof of identity is required, we deliberately break the link in our systems between the card and the journeys made with it as soon as that link is no longer required for customer support, such as processing fare refunds.

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