London cycle hire scheme: Scam victim blames TfL for losses

Jeremy says two teenagers took his five-digit hire code at this terminal, near Broadcasting House in central London

A man who was charged hundreds of pounds after thieves used his bike hire code has criticised Transport for London for continuing to take his cash.

Jeremy was using the Santander hire scheme, run by TfL, when two teenagers snatched his bike release code, which was printed on a piece of paper.

Jeremy said the code had since been used to hire bikes at his expense.

He said he had paid almost £400 even though he reported the matter promptly. TfL said it would refund him.

Jeremy's ordeal began when he was trying to hire a bike near the BBC's Broadcasting House in central London, on 17 February.

Many people use an app to access the code needed to release a hire bike from its dock, however Jeremy used his debit card so the code was printed on to a piece of paper.

Jeremy says he continues to be charged £77 a day

At this point he said two teenage boys got quite close to him.

One spoke quietly to him and as he turned to ask him to repeat what he had said, the other boy rushed in and grabbed the piece of paper.

Both then ran away.

"I felt foolish, I'd been caught out and I'm usually alert to this sort of thing," Jeremy said.

The code can either be supplied via an app or printed on to a piece of paper

He said he had not wanted to use his phone in case it was stolen too and went home to call TfL, about 15 minutes after the theft.

Jeremy said TfL would not accept his report until he called Action Fraud, however as it was a Friday night the call centre was closed for the weekend and he could not get through until the following Monday.

Jeremy said he had since spent hours on the phone with TfL, Action Fraud and his bank trying to sort the matter out.

"I've had to stop thinking about it because otherwise it would have driven me crazy," he said.

"I feel the crime was TfL's. You know you're continuing to take my money. When someone reports immediately a scam, they should stop payments."

'Such a vulnerable spot'

Jeremy said he believed he was being charged £1.65 every 30 minutes - the cost of hiring a bike - as the teenagers had not returned a bike they used.

"It was dark, it was quiet, there was nobody around, it was an incident waiting to happen, I think.

"There should be warnings; it's such a vulnerable spot, that in the dark you have to get your card out, stand there for some time as it takes a couple of minutes - longer if the machine is slow."

Transport for London's head of cycle hire David Eddington said TfL worked hard to tackle incidents of fraud and theft.

Mr Eddington said TfL apologised for any distress Jeremy had suffered and would be refunding him in full. He added that such instances of fraud were "extremely rare".

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