In message , Paul Corfield
writes
There is a clear need to provide a sensible explanation as to

a) how travelling out of Zone with an Oyster card works.
b) what passengers should do with their cards.
c) what the ramifications are if for whatever reason they are unable /
unwilling to comply with the rules.

I was most surprised when Kat posted that someone with zero Pre-Pay
balance had been deducted into negative value because they presented
their Travelcard Oyster out of zone. While I understand why the system
does it I think it is barmy to put passengers in a position of needing
to do something with their cards when there is nothing to explain to
them the way to avoid it happening. I've looked at the Oyster website
and I was not terribly impressed with the FAQ.

There is a fairly clear explanation about travelling out of zone with an
Oyster season ticket in a leaflet which all stations should have. I make
a point of handing it to passengers who've been caught out this way in
addition to explaining how the system works.

I cannot see how it could have been made to work in any other way
though; magnetic tickets just can't *talk* to Oyster cards.

I have to say, it's all very time consuming though..
--
Kat Me, Ambivalent? Well, yes and no.