On Tue, 6 Mar 2007 19:20:10 +0000 (UTC), Mike Bristow
wrote:

In the last 6 months I've handed over my Oyster many times
(and had it looked at - but not scanned - many more times).

I quite frequently take Heathrow Connect between Paddington and Ealing
Broadway. The conductors very rarely have a handheld reader any more.
I just thrist my wallet at them in a "scan this" pose, and normally
they just say "OK, thanks".

One once asked to see that I had an Oyster card in there, which I did,
though I told him I didn't understand why he wanted to see it as it
could quite easily not have held a valid ticket.