Hi there, i've got a bit trouble with oyster card. the thing is that
yesterday i got in tube at king's cross station about 5pm, i'd topped
up 5 pounds before i got in. And then when i got off at ealing
broadway, it said the i had to pay extra 4 pounds for my journey(from
king's cross to ealing). i've got totally confused. they gave me a
penalty paper which says i have to pay it off in 21 days
otherwise...but i am pretty sure that i did top up successfully as i
also checked my banking statement.

What can i do now? call the service line or what else? i didn't oeder
a receipt when i finisded topping up at tube station unfortunately;s

On Wed, 19 May 2010 21:23:09 +0100, mini wrote:

Hi there, i've got a bit trouble with oyster card. the thing is that
yesterday i got in tube at king's cross station about 5pm, i'd topped
up 5 pounds before i got in. And then when i got off at ealing
broadway, it said the i had to pay extra 4 pounds for my journey(from
king's cross to ealing). i've got totally confused. they gave me a
penalty paper which says i have to pay it off in 21 days
otherwise...but i am pretty sure that i did top up successfully as i
also checked my banking statement.

What can i do now? call the service line or what else? i didn't oeder
a receipt when i finisded topping up at tube station unfortunately;s

Get a print-out from a booking office to see what the system thinks you
did.

Then call the helpline and tell them what you actually did.

You should get a refund of the £4 if you've paid it - but it sounds like
you haven't, so it should be cancelled if you've done nothing wrong.

The system shouldn't let you in if you don't have a balance of at least
the minimum fare on your card.

Colin McKenzie


--
No-one has ever proved that cycle helmets make cycling any safer at the
population level, and anyway cycling is about as safe per mile as walking.
Make an informed choice - visit www.cyclehelmets.org.

On May 19, 9:23 pm, mini wrote:
Hi there, i've got a bit trouble with oyster card. the thing is that
yesterday i got in tube at king's cross station about 5pm, i'd topped
up 5 pounds before i got in. And then when i got off at ealing
broadway, it said the i had to pay extra 4 pounds for my journey(from
king's cross to ealing). i've got totally confused. they gave me a
penalty paper which says i have to pay it off in 21 days
otherwise...but i am pretty sure that i did top up successfully as i
also checked my banking statement.

What can i do now? call the service line or what else? i didn't oeder
a receipt when i finisded topping up at tube station unfortunately;s

This sounds like out old friend the out-of-station interchange derived
maximum journey time-out - no, I don't expect you to know what that
means. The other option is that you didn't touch-in or touch-out
somewhere after starting or finishing a journey.

If you were to give us the details of your Oyster card usage that day
then someone could probably pinpoint where the problem occurred... but
otherwise you could call the Oyster helpline or contact Oyster
customer services via the secure contact form here http://
www.tfl.gov.uk/contact (though this will only work if your card is
registered).

"Mizter T" wrote in message
...

On May 19, 9:23 pm, mini wrote:
Hi there, i've got a bit trouble with oyster card. the thing is that
yesterday i got in tube at king's cross station about 5pm, i'd topped
up 5 pounds before i got in. And then when i got off at ealing
broadway, it said the i had to pay extra 4 pounds for my journey(from
king's cross to ealing). i've got totally confused. they gave me a
penalty paper which says i have to pay it off in 21 days
otherwise...but i am pretty sure that i did top up successfully as i
also checked my banking statement.

What can i do now? call the service line or what else? i didn't oeder
a receipt when i finisded topping up at tube station unfortunately;s

This sounds like out old friend the out-of-station interchange derived
maximum journey time-out - no, I don't expect you to know what that
means. The other option is that you didn't touch-in or touch-out
somewhere after starting or finishing a journey.

If it is, I don't remember anyone previously mentioning here being penalty
fared . But once that first journey 'times out' if you are gripped on a
train you are 'travelling without validating your Oyster PAYG'.

Was the OP approached by revenue protection staff before finally touching
out, or before?

Paul S

On May 20, 10:52*am, "Paul Scott"
wrote:

"Mizter T" wrote:

On May 19, 9:23 pm, mini wrote:
Hi there, i've got a bit trouble with oyster card. the thing is that
yesterday i got in tube at king's cross station about 5pm, i'd topped
up 5 pounds before i got in. And then when i got off at ealing
broadway, it said the i had to pay extra 4 pounds for my journey(from
king's cross to ealing). i've got totally confused. they gave me a
penalty paper which says i have to pay it off in 21 days
otherwise...but i am pretty sure that i did top up successfully as i
also checked my banking statement.

What can i do now? call the service line or what else? i didn't oeder
a receipt when i finisded topping up at tube station unfortunately;s

This sounds like out old friend the out-of-station interchange derived
maximum journey time-out - no, I don't expect you to know what that
means. The other option is that you didn't touch-in or touch-out
somewhere after starting or finishing a journey.

If it is, I don't remember anyone previously mentioning here being penalty
fared . But once that first journey 'times out' if you are gripped on a
train you are 'travelling without validating your Oyster PAYG'.

It doesn't sound like it was a penalty fare though - more a 'you are
required to pay us back within 21 days' type thing (i.e. pay back the
£4) - a friend got issued with something like this by a bus driver
when they boarded a bus in the central London 'pay-before-you-board'
area in the midst of the night and the roadside ticket machine was not
working (AIUI bus drivers cannot override their own ticket machines
and make them issue tickets in this area - if I was the driver I might
have just asked them to pay the fare in a few stops time).

Perhaps the original poster 'mini' can clarify what happened?


Was the OP approached by revenue protection staff before finally touching
out, or before?

Or was it just 'normal' (i.e. non-RPI) staff that they had dealings
with? (I imagine that RPIs would be familiar with in Oyster OSI
timeout issues).

Mizter T wrote:
On May 20, 10:52 am, "Paul Scott"
wrote:

"Mizter T" wrote:

This sounds like out old friend the out-of-station interchange
derived maximum journey time-out - no, I don't expect you to know
what that means. The other option is that you didn't touch-in or
touch-out somewhere after starting or finishing a journey.

If it is, I don't remember anyone previously mentioning here being
penalty fared . But once that first journey 'times out' if you are
gripped on a train you are 'travelling without validating your
Oyster PAYG'.

It doesn't sound like it was a penalty fare though - more a 'you are
required to pay us back within 21 days' type thing (i.e. pay back the
£4)

Yes - could that just mean that his Oyster Card is holding a negative
balance - presumably that makes it unusable until topped up again?

Would a ticket office issue such a request if you asked for an Oyster card
to be checked, eg after a failure to get through an exit barrier?

As you say, the OP could perhaps tell us a little more.

Paul S

On May 20, 12:21*pm, "Paul Scott"
wrote:

Mizter T wrote:

On May 20, 10:52 am, "Paul Scott"
wrote:

"Mizter T" wrote:
This sounds like out old friend the out-of-station interchange
derived maximum journey time-out - no, I don't expect you to know
what that means. The other option is that you didn't touch-in or
touch-out somewhere after starting or finishing a journey.

If it is, I don't remember anyone previously mentioning here being
penalty fared . But once that first journey 'times out' if you are
gripped on a train you are 'travelling without validating your
Oyster PAYG'.

It doesn't sound like it was a penalty fare though - more a 'you are
required to pay us back within 21 days' type thing (i.e. pay back the
£4)

Yes - could that just mean that his Oyster Card is holding a negative
balance - presumably that makes it unusable until topped up again?

Perhaps a bit more than that - a 'promise to pay you back within 21
days' type thing (on the assumption that the OP didn't have any means
of paying there and then). I've not come across any rule that an
Oyster card that's in negative balance needs to be topped up within 21
days.

Then again maybe it is a 'proper' PF, but I'd be very surprised for
one to be issued in these sorts of circumstances unless there was some
obvious (likelihood of) misuse.


Would a ticket office issue such a request if you asked for an Oyster card
to be checked, eg after a failure to get through an exit barrier?

Er, dunno. Might be dependent upon the competence/ expertise of the
ticket offices staff to try and untangle it


As you say, the OP could perhaps tell us a little more.

Indeed, it's all a bit unclear thus far.

On 20 May, 12:41, Mizter T wrote:
On May 20, 12:21*pm, "Paul Scott"
wrote:





Mizter T wrote:

On May 20, 10:52 am, "Paul Scott"
wrote:

"Mizter T" wrote:
This sounds like out old friend the out-of-station interchange
derived maximum journey time-out - no, I don't expect you to know
what that means. The other option is that you didn't touch-in or
touch-out somewhere after starting or finishing a journey.

If it is, I don't remember anyone previously mentioning here being
penalty fared . But once that first journey 'times out' if you are
gripped on a train you are 'travelling without validating your
Oyster PAYG'.

It doesn't sound like it was a penalty fare though - more a 'you are
required to pay us back within 21 days' type thing (i.e. pay back the
£4)

Yes - could that just mean that his Oyster Card is holding a negative
balance - presumably that makes it unusable until topped up again?

Perhaps a bit more than that - a 'promise to pay you back within 21
days' type thing (on the assumption that the OP didn't have any means
of paying there and then). I've not come across any rule that an
Oyster card that's in negative balance needs to be topped up within 21
days.

Then again maybe it is a 'proper' PF, but I'd be very surprised for
one to be issued in these sorts of circumstances unless there was some
obvious (likelihood of) misuse.



Would a ticket office issue such a request if you asked for an Oyster card
to be checked, eg after a failure to get through an exit barrier?

Er, dunno. Might be dependent upon the competence/ expertise of the
ticket offices staff to try and untangle it



As you say, the OP could perhaps tell us a little more.

Indeed, it's all a bit unclear thus far.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks a lot guys!

sorry that i didn't put the thing here clearly. actually they asked
extra 4 pounds for the journey (from kings cross to ealing) not a
penalty.

But what i couldn't get is how could it be? since surely i had 6.7
pounds in my oyster card when i got in tube entrance. when i was
touching out, it failed. one of the staff came to me then said that it
was only 0.7 pounds within my card!

I had no clue how the 5 pounds i just put in disappeared! I mean i was
so sure that i paid 5 pounds to top up as i can see my banking
statement by internet banking now, it was charged 5 pounds for sure.
besides there was still 1.7 ponuds within my card before i topped up,
so it was total 6.7 when i got in.

As you guys probably also know that i definitely won't get in if there
is only 0.7 on my card.

huh, so that's it. im gonna call them tomorrow ...trying to get a
print-out so that i could at least find out about the disappeared 6
pounds;s

On 21 May, 22:46, mini wrote:
On 20 May, 12:41, Mizter T wrote:





On May 20, 12:21*pm, "Paul Scott"
wrote:

Mizter T wrote:

On May 20, 10:52 am, "Paul Scott"
wrote:

"Mizter T" wrote:
This sounds like out old friend the out-of-station interchange
derived maximum journey time-out - no, I don't expect you to know
what that means. The other option is that you didn't touch-in or
touch-out somewhere after starting or finishing a journey.

If it is, I don't remember anyone previously mentioning here being
penalty fared . But once that first journey 'times out' if you are
gripped on a train you are 'travelling without validating your
Oyster PAYG'.

It doesn't sound like it was a penalty fare though - more a 'you are
required to pay us back within 21 days' type thing (i.e. pay back the
£4)

Yes - could that just mean that his Oyster Card is holding a negative
balance - presumably that makes it unusable until topped up again?

Perhaps a bit more than that - a 'promise to pay you back within 21
days' type thing (on the assumption that the OP didn't have any means
of paying there and then). I've not come across any rule that an
Oyster card that's in negative balance needs to be topped up within 21
days.

Then again maybe it is a 'proper' PF, but I'd be very surprised for
one to be issued in these sorts of circumstances unless there was some
obvious (likelihood of) misuse.

Would a ticket office issue such a request if you asked for an Oyster card
to be checked, eg after a failure to get through an exit barrier?

Er, dunno. Might be dependent upon the competence/ expertise of the
ticket offices staff to try and untangle it

As you say, the OP could perhaps tell us a little more.

Indeed, it's all a bit unclear thus far.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks a lot guys!

sorry that i didn't put the thing here clearly. actually they asked
extra 4 pounds for the journey (from kings cross to ealing) not a
penalty.

But what i couldn't get is how could it be? since surely i had 6.7
pounds in my oyster card when i got in tube entrance. when i was
touching out, it failed. one of the staff came to me then said that it
was only 0.7 pounds within my card!

I had no clue how the 5 pounds i just put in disappeared! I mean i was
so sure that i paid 5 pounds to top up as i can see my banking
statement by internet banking now, it was charged 5 pounds for sure.
besides there was still 1.7 ponuds within my card before i topped up,
so it was total 6.7 when i got in.

As you guys probably also know that i definitely won't get in if there
is only 0.7 on my card.

huh, so that's it. im gonna call them tomorrow ...trying to get a
print-out so that i could at least find out about the disappeared 6
pounds;s


Nothing on Oyster could add up to £4 that I can see. I think that
they must have been asking you for the cash fare from Kings Cross to
Ealing, which is £4. (A cash fare from anywhere is £4.)

Presumably (someone will confirm), the Oyster reader won't
simultaneously deduct a bit of cash and also refuse to let you
through? I mean, if it was leaving you with a negative balance, it
would always be letting you through, so the balance would have to have
been £0.70 at the start of the journey. But which "journey"?

Next question: which route did you take? Did it involve changing at
Paddington? Hammersmith? If so, how long did you take to change?

MIG wrote:


Nothing on Oyster could add up to £4 that I can see. I think that
they must have been asking you for the cash fare from Kings Cross to
Ealing, which is £4. (A cash fare from anywhere is £4.)

Presumably (someone will confirm), the Oyster reader won't
simultaneously deduct a bit of cash and also refuse to let you
through?

But that's what happened to me -- I hit the scanner thingie and then I
couldn't get through the gate. It deducted money then and also when I
hit it again in my bid to get out. (My husband and I should have had the
same amount on our oysters, but I had a few Pounds less after the incident.)


I mean, if it was leaving you with a negative balance, it
would always be letting you through, so the balance would have to have
been £0.70 at the start of the journey. But which "journey"?


I didn't think it lets you through if your balance is below what is
enough for a single oyster fare (e.g. £1.80).