Poldie wrote:

I travel from Zone 6 to Paddington then get a bus, so I chose
Paddington as my recharge point - purely because there aren't any
Oyster recharge points near me. But I was puzzled, because I get a bus
from Paddington, and I'm not aware of any points in Paddington where I
can recharge without opening the barriers. So it would appear that
I'll have to open the ticket barrier then walk away, and out of the
station and onto the bus, leaving the barriers open. I just phoned the
helpline number given on the email I received when I ordered the second
set of 7 days and the person I spoke to confirmed what I've just put as
being the only way to recharge my card.

The conversation was along the lines of:
"But won't I get puzzled looks from, or be challenged by, the guys on
the ticket barrier, who'll want to know why I'm leaving the gate open
for people without tickets/drunks etc onto the tube system?"
"Probably - just tell them you're recharging your Oyster card".
"What, and go through that every week?"
"Yes."

I accept that many (most?) people will enter the tube system at their
recharge point, but surely my situation can't be unique?

The other option is to just renew your ticket in advance at an Oyster
Ticket Stop (which you can search for on the TfL website [1]) or
Underground Station. You don't *have* to renew on the day.

HTH,

Barry

[1] http://www.tfl-ticketlocator.co.uk/postcode-search.asp