Had a strange oyster problem on the bus today.    Went to touch in on
the bus and the message - Not accepted in this Zone / Area - came up

The driver would not let me on.  I had topped up £10 a couple of hours
earlier.  Tried the card a few more times but the same message came
up.  He then printed me off a slip which said:-

Pay As you Go or the period ticket on this card are NOT accepted at
this location on this bus service.
Please buy a cash ticket for this journey.

In also showed an error message

00296 000 000 00022 052

I should add that the route was 344 about four stops from Clapham
Junction.  I had no cash with me but there was a 49 behind and the
card worked first time deducting 90p.  Not very impressed - what would
have happened if I was getting the night bus to work.  Was the driver
within his rights to tell me to get off the bus?

This is the sort of message I would expect to get on a LT bus in the
area outside London.  Anybody with more knowledge know what went wrong?