Colin Murphy wrote:
I am in the process of setting up 'Auto top-up' on my Oyster card.

From the web site I selected the most convenient underground
station to validate my card against, but on receipt of the
confirmation email that I should proceed to validate the card I am
told that I need to use the card reader in the barriers, not the
ones in the ticket hall that I usually use to top my card up.

Unfortunately, I very rarely use the tube to travel and I have no
particular inclination to pay a tube journey surcharge just to use
the Auto top-up feature.

Is there any way to get around this?

When I was faced with a similar situation, I touched in at a gate but
didn't go through it. I then asked the ticket clerk to cancel the
resultant unresolved journey. I think you may need to get the Oyster
helpline to do that now, rather than the local ticket office.
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)