London commuters are five times more likely to have their money eaten up by Oyster card machines at railway stations today than they were in 2003, according to new data revealed by the Green Party.

Victoria station is worst rated with 136 recorded complaints in 2010, while City-based Liverpool Street is second with 106, and Kings Cross a close third with 103. In West London, Shepherd's Bush is the worst station, with 52 complaints.

A Freedom of Information request by the Greens shows that in 2003, the number of complaints made to Transport for London about machines taking money without registering the increase in credit or an extension of pass to the card holder, stood at 1,085.

But by the end of 2010, this had rocketed to a staggering 5,568. Figures for 2011 to date indicate the trend is escalating.

Jenny Jones, the Green Party’s London Mayoral candidate and member of the Metropolitan Police Authority for 11 years says: " It’s a scandal that Oyster card holders are being penalised in this way through no fault of their own, and rather than taking appropriate action to reduce the problem, Transport for London has allowed the problem to get worse.

“TfL admits that the problem lies with the number of ticket machine faults and the extension of Oyster Pay As You Go on National Rail services, but they don’t seem to be taking any remedial action.

" This is just not good enough when we have rail fares that are already some of the highest in Europe and in excess of the level of inflation.”

Last December the Greens revealed figures showing that bus, rail and tube travellers in the capital are more likely to have their personal Oyster card data scrutinised by the Met Police than ever before, in a worrying new trend.

Top Ten Complaints by Station and Complaints by Year

2010 Top Ten Complaints by Station
Station	No. of complaints
Victoria	136
Liverpool Street	106
King's Cross	103
London Bridge	84
Waterloo	84
Euston	69
Finsbury Park	57
Canary Wharf	55
Oxford Circus	54
Shepherd's Bush	52
Complaints by Year
Year	No. of complaints
2003	1,085
2004	1,032
2005	1,830
2006	670
2007	772
2008	726
2009	858
2010	5568
2011 (up to and including 6 May)	1827

Source: Transport for London

June 8, 2011