Oystercard took an extra £4. Anyone know why?

black-saturn

I think I do know why actually but I thought I'd better check and it's certainly not my fault.

On saturday I was going to travel from Stratford to Camden on the tube. Half way there there the train stopped for ages and eventually there was an announcement that there was a problem with the line and everyone must get off and travel the rest of the journey by a bus which they put on. So we all get off and leave the station by a side door where there was a bus waiting. So I didnt touch out my Oystercard but then neither did anyone else.

Return journey was from Camden to Stratford on the underground again and I touched in an out both times.

I had £6.80 on my card at the start of the journey and now I only have 10p

So is there anything I can do about it?

tigergold

you need to write to tfl and tell them the sitaution and they may refund you.
oyster takes off the full amount for a travelcard when you touch in on the tube, so if you do not touch out you will be charged full amount.

black-saturn

But it charged me £6.70 in total. I thought it could only charge the maximum of £4?

tigergold

max of £4 is for a single tube fare, but as you got on a bus, then it wiil be max travelcard price. However, i think oyster is a bit strange as how many people really check their balances all the time.there must be loadsof people like you that would not even notice. So write to them

tigergold

just checked tfl and the capped price for travelcard is £6.20, so not sure why you've been charged 6.70 (which is full price travelcard)........strange !

impy78

black-saturn wrote:

I think I do know why actually but I thought I'd better check and it's certainly not my fault.

On saturday I was going to travel from Stratford to Camden on the tube. Half way there there the train stopped for ages and eventually there was an announcement that there was a problem with the line and everyone must get off and travel the rest of the journey by a bus which they put on. So we all get off and leave the station by a side door where there was a bus waiting. So I didnt touch out my Oystercard but then neither did anyone else.

Return journey was from Camden to Stratford on the underground again and I touched in an out both times.

I had £6.80 on my card at the start of the journey and now I only have 10p

So is there anything I can do about it?

I am having the same problems at the moment - you didn't touch in at victoria at any point, did you...

I have posted about my oyster woes in another thread...

This one

black-saturn

Hmmm, think I'll write to London transport about it. This is not the first time it's happened to me either. I thought this Oystercard was meant to be money saving. I've done nothing but pay on it since I've had it. I don't even live in London so I don't use it that often.

isasmurf

As you probably know, when you touch in, £4 is automatically deducted from your Oyster card. When you touch out your card is refunded so that you have paid the correct amount for your journey.

What has happened here is that because you left the station without touching out (correctly for a disrupted journey), when you touched in to rejoin the tube the system recognised you had an incomplete journey, and it assumed this was the start of a new journey. I think you should have been instructed not to touch in when you rejoined the tube.

Why you haven't been capped is because the £4 you were charged for your assumed incomplete journey does not count towards the daily cap.

You should phone the Oyster helpline (0845 330 9876 between 8am and 8pm daily) to have your Oystercard refunded.


Here are the details about a disrupted tube journey from Oyster