Reclaim cash from old Oyster cards

Also if everybody could use the ticket offices more it will save jobs. Don't queue up on ticket machines, queue up at the ticket office. Also if you want a reciept you can always ask for one while buying any product from the ticket office. It's no good asking for one later or at another station once one has been brought from a machine. As they cannot be given after the next person has been served

MSE_Researcher wrote: »

Used an Oyster card for London public transport? You may be able to grab back unused cash – it’ll only be a few quid each, but there is £30 million in total so check now

[title=http://images2.moneysavingexpert.com/images/dp/wtd_underline.gif] What to do[/title]
When you get an Oyster card – which you can top up to spend on London Underground, buses and some trains – you have to pay a £5 deposit (previously £3).

So if you’ve stopped using the card – eg, moved away from London, or got it for visiting friends/family – take it back to any ticket office, and you’ll get back the deposit and any unused balance when you hand it over.

An Oyster card never expires so you can do this at any time.

However, you’ll only get back the deposit you actually paid - £3 for most cards before January 2011, and Transport for London has occasionally run ‘free Oyster’ promotions. It won’t automatically pay you £5 just because that’s the current deposit amount – unlucky!

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Whilst yes, thats a great moneysaving tip you have to do this refund at a TFL station(or NR that sells Oyster). If people have moved away then how are they to do this without posting it in(if this can be done) also it would be far better for people to keep hold of if they moved out of london because when they visit they dont have to have all the hassle of getting another with another round of depositing for the card and then refunding again..

Jeff_Bridges_hair wrote: »

Whilst yes, thats a great moneysaving tip you have to do this refund at a TFL station(or NR that sells Oyster). If people have moved away then how are they to do this without posting it in(if this can be done) also it would be far better for people to keep hold of if they moved out of london because when they visit they dont have to have all the hassle of getting another with another round of depositing for the card and then refunding again..

A very good point. How can people outside London claim this refund?
You can report cards for a 'refund' on the TFL site - with a £10 administration fee. No mention of the £3 deposit in any case.

I'm guessing most of that £30 million is made up of deposits from people who actually do use their Oyster cards on a regular or occasional basis? Or is it from so-called "inactive" cards which haven't been used in X number of years? If it's the latter then fair enough.

I do agree with what others are saying about the logistics of getting the refund if you're not in London, and then of course the Catch-22 situation of probably needing your Oyster card again whilst in London getting your refund on the Oyster card you "don't need"!

Personally I live in Yorkshire with my partner, but we each have an Oyster card for the occasions when we do travel down to London. It's so much easier topping up at the end of our trip in the knowledge that we'll be able to arrive in London on our next visit and travel around freely. In fact I'm always surprised when visiting our London friends and finding ourselves waiting for them to queue for a Travelcard. :laugh: Is there something we don't know?!!