On Jul 10, 1:11*pm, Mizter T wrote:

On Jul 10, 11:19*am, "Ian F." wrote:
[snip]
Thanks for that. I'm a reasonably savvy traveller, but I totally forgot
that, of course, one would have to touch out at the last station on the
Oyster and in again at, say, East Croydon.

I'm going from Balham (where I live) to Brighton for a couple of hours-worth
of meeting and then back home. Southern's £5/£8.50 return options are
clearly the best option, rather than involving Oyster at all.

[snip stuff re Southern Advance, DaySave and Downlander]

Oh, and there's one other thing I'd completely forgotten - there's a
special promotion running at the moment that gives Oyster card holders
cheap off-peak fares to many places in the south east - the idea is to
encourage Londoners to get out of the city by rail. The return fare
from London to Brighton is just £5. You need to supply some
information inc. your Oyster card number and then print-off a voucher
before going to an NR ticket office and presenting voucher plus Oyster
card in order to buy your cheap ticket (which will be in the form of a
conventional rail ticket - so no touching-in or out with the Oyster
card is needed).

Note that despite what is implied on the first page, the T&Cs shown on
the voucher will make clear that you are free to join the train at an
intermediate station i.e. a station other than the relevant London
terminal (so joining at Balham is ok, as would be alighting at Balham
on the return).

So, there is a way of doing it that involves Oyster after all!

Full details of the promotion, which runs until 25 July, can be found
he
http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/oyster