Hey Everyone,

Many thanks for your replies. Basically, I'll give you a run-down of
what happened that day, see if any of you can make any sense of it. I
personally think it's due to an error in the Oyster system; I know it
sounds crazy, but please hear me out.

That morning, I'd been to quite a lot of places on business. I'd just
been from North Greenwich, on the Jubilee Line, to Canary Wharf, where
it would have been impossible for me not to have Touched Out from the
Tube as it's all Ticket Barriers there. According to the Ticket
Inspector, I had not Touched Out at Canary Wharf, even though the
Oyster Help-line people say that I in fact did.

Anyway, I'd just come from North Greenwich - Canary Wharf, where I
spent about an hour on some business, grabbed a bite to eat and then
got on the DLR at Heron Quays to go to Custom House. I had a price cap
anyway (as Oyster people confirmed) so none of my journeys that day
would have cost me anything more anyway. I changed onto another DLR
train at Poplar, and spent about 10 minutes at Custom House (just a
quickie) - after I Touched Out there. After the 10 minutes or so, I
had a bit of difficult touching back in - I had to try a few times
before it went green, but I figured that it was just because I wasn't
removing it from my wallet. Anyway, in the end it did go green so I
thought that must be all OK.

I got on a DLR going to Tower Gateway, on which two ticker inspectors
got on at Poplar. I gave them my Oyster card, and they both spent
about 2 minutes looking at their reader thing before informing me I
didn't have a valid Oyster Card, and would have to pay a £20 fine. I
tried to explain to them what I had done that day, but they just told
me (quite rudely, in fact) that I had to pay the fine, or there would
be 'action taken against me'.

Having never received a fine previously, I didn't know that I had 21
days in which to pay, and the ticket inspectors obviously took
advantage of this by making me pay right there and then (in cash). I
did so with a view to taking it up with Tfl as soon as I had finished
with my business. I did so about an hour later, and they told me to go
to a ticket office to get a printed Oyster usage statement. I got that
from Embankment, and here's what it said (notice my markup to indicate
that it was wrong):

26/05 12:22: Add Pre Pay Covent Garden (£10.00)
*****loads of missing journeys here*****
12/06 10:23: Bus Boarding Route 47
12.06 10:23: *price cap applied*
*****again, some missing journeys*****
12/06 11:59: N Greenwich - Custom House: £0.00
*****should have been N Greenwich - Canary Wharf, then Heron Quays -
Custom House*****
12/06 11:59: N Greenwich - Custom House: £0.00
12/06 11:59: N Greenwich - Custom House: £0.00
12/06 11:59: N Greenwich - Custom House: £0.00
12/06 11:59: N Greenwich - Custom House: £0.00
12/06 11:59: N Greenwich - Custom House: £0.00
*****I would love to know how I managed all those in 1 minute!*****
12/06 12:28: N Greenwich - Tower Gateway
*****How was I still travelling from from North Greenwich I do not
know *****

Strange or what? Anyway, I've written a very nice letter to DLR (I'll
post it if anyone's interested) to get my money back (Oyster card
informed me I _was_ entitled to a refund as I had Touched Out/In
properly everywhere, but DLR on the phone seemed to think
differently). It's quite a corker (I'm charging an administration fee,
on top - cheeky I know, but I spent about an hour on the phone, then
the time to write the letter and to get the statement from the arse of
a man at Embankment).

If anyone can make head or tail of this, please feel free to tell me
off if I'm wrong