Tap in but not/can't travel

Mr_Singleton

Friend not from London asked what happens if you tap your oyster/contactless card in and then find that your half hourly train has been cancelled so you decide to travel by another method or if your called home while still on the platform.

I assumed that TFL make it as difficult as possible to claim a refund of the maximum cash fare.

Does it make any difference if its at an un-maned station with no barriers?

London50

Taken from the TFL website


When we don't refund for service delays
You can't get a service delay refund for planned service changes and engineering work, if you made an alternative journey or if your journey was delayed for a reason outside our control, like:

A security alert
A customer incident, for example, a person ill on a train
Adverse weather conditions
If you have a free travel concession, you can't apply for a service delay refund.

wealdroam

From the TfL website:

Same station exits

A same station exit is recorded when you touch your Oyster card on a yellow reader when you enter a station, but then touch out to exit at the same station within a set time. This can happen when you change your journey plan, for example, because of service disruption. If you touch in and out at the same station without making a journey, the following charges apply:

Between 0 and 2 minutes: a maximum pay as you go fare of up to £8.80. If, having touched in and out within two minutes, you then re-enter the same or a different station within 45 minutes, the maximum pay as you go fare will be refunded and a new journey started. This does not apply if you touched out on a yellow card reader that is not on a ticket gate or take a bus or tram before re-entering

Between 2 and 30 minutes: the minimum pay as you go fare from that station

More than 30 minutes: the system will assume that two separate journeys have been made. However, they will both be incomplete, so you will be charged two maximum pay as you go fares of up to £8.80
We apply these charges to discourage fare evasion.

You may be eligible for a refund if you have been charged for a same station exit. Speak to a member of staff, go to replacements and refunds or call customer services on 0343 222 1234 (08:00 to 20:00 daily - see TfL call charges).

jon81uk

Call up the Oyster helpline or log into your Oyster online account and apply for a refund for the cancelled train. Refunds are pretty simple.

t0rt0ise

Staff at any tube station can put a refund back on an oyster card. Contactless cards you'd need to contact oyster either by phone or over the internet. Another reason to favour oyster cards.