London Banter - View Single Post - Kings Cross

Roland Perry · March 23rd 12, 02:54 PM posted to uk.railway,uk.transport.london

In message , at 15:26:31 on Fri, 23 Mar
2012, d remarked:
But the Oyster card is being used on non-TfL services! It can also be used
to pay for entry to a museum, so it's apparently legal to use it to pay for
other things than transportation fares.

Its essentially a gift voucher (you pay someone money, they'll redeem it
later for goods or services) so there's no legal issue at all.

It's regarded as a banking facility (or e-money), if they can be spent
with a third party. Most gift cards are tied to one shop or product.

There are some with wider acceptance, but as they "feel like cash", I
would expect them to be covered by FSA rules[1]. The issue with TfL and
Oyster was they didn't want that extra burden.

[1] http://www.flexesaver.co.uk/love2shop-gift-cards/ (FSA Ref. 900016)
--
Roland Perry