Punters attempting to use London's super efficient public transport will find their high-tech Oyster card no longer works.

The system crashed and burntedlike a 1967-year-old underground carriage on the Bakerloo line for at least five hours on Saturday. Any cards that were used during that time have since stopped working and fined their owners.

Since the cards are used as payment on buses, Tube, tram and Docklands Light Railway, this will be jolly annoying to anyone who does use public transport. Transport for London sheepishly apologized and said people with a faulty card could get a replacement from Tube stations. The fault happened between 0530 AM and 1030 PM and made cards inoperable.

Transport for London apparently responded by giving people free travel while the problem was fixed. However, any passenger who used their card during those hours might have been  charged the maximum fare.

A spokesman said that all passengers who incur a maximum fare on Saturday 12 July will be given an automatic refund from Tuesday. They do not need to take any action.