Senior Oystercard - train travel beyond London limits query

peakoilisnow

I am over 60 so have a Oyster Freedom pass and a Senior railcard.

Yesterday I travelled to Guildford from Waterloo, so when I ordered tickets to pick up at the station, I just got from Surbiton to Guildford which I reckoned covered the relevant part of the journey beyond the London Oyster limit.

However as the train left there was an announcment: Oyster cards are not valid on this train.

There wasn't a ticket inspector but I felt uncomfortable. Does anyone know what the correct procedure is? I don't want to get a penalty fare in future but I don't understand why, it's the same as split ticketing in my view.

pompeyrich

Did you catch the Portsmouth bound train from Waterloo? As the first stop on this service is Woking, which is outside the London zonal area and therefore an Oyster card would not be valid on that journey.

I'm no expert but believe when using a split ticketing option, as you did, the train must stop at the split station, in this case Surbiton, for it to be valid.

KeithP

Condition 4.2 of the National Rail Conditions of Travel says:

14.2 If you are using a Season Ticket, daily Zonal Ticket, or another area based Ticket such as a concessionary pass, ranger or rover in conjunction with another Ticket and the last station at which one Ticket is valid and the first station that the other Ticket is valid are the same, then the train does not need to call at that station for your combination to be valid.

As the Oyster Freedom pass is a zonal ticket, there is no need for the train to stop at Surbiton and in my opinion your combination of tickets is perfectly valid.

The announcement you heard was to alert people who only had an Oyster ticket that the first stop of the train was beyond the TfL zones and thus their tickets would not be valid.

peakoilisnow

Thanks both for the enlightenment. The train regulations are clear as mud sometimes, but the rule 14.2 seems fairly explanatory, now I will print it out and feel OK about travelling various routes with maximum money saving. I need my quids for beer tokens :-) Ta!