No; I think the best option is, depending on how bothered you are about saving twenty minutes, going from Whitechapel to Norwood Junction, which has Gatwick trains every thirty minutes, or changing at Norwood Junction and again at East Croydon.
It's about an hour and a half going all the way into Blackfriars for a Thameslink, at the end of the day depends how much you value the quicker journey.
That journey planner result seems to be a rail replacement bus from East Grinstead to Gatwick. What day is this on, as that'd suggest there may be engineering works. Ordinarily, when the line is open, you wouldn't go anywhere near East Grinstead.
Yes, it is a loophole, but one that the fare structure accepts. If it didn't accept it there would be a barrier line to and from the Elizabeth Line at Farringdon. Farringdon is a bit of an open hole in the system, but realistically not that many people will go to the trouble of getting off a train at a pink reader station, go to the pink reader, and get on the next train. The same applies to splits using Oyster / Contactless.
It can't be detected. The Oyster set up looks at touch in, touch out and any touches on the way. All a user has to do is follow those necessary touches, and travel where they like in between.
Sadly it doesn't actually matter, because engineering works on the date op plans to travel means TL are terminating at ECR.
Ah that will be the issue. There are engineering works meaning the line to Gatwick is closed on the 17th and 18th, and therefore the journey is extended by a Rail Replacement Bus.
That weekend the line south of East Croydon to Gatwick is closed, which is why it's routing you on a bus and it takes so long. There's an engineering works calendar on the Southern website here: https://www.southernrailway.com/ser...k?date=2026-01-18#engineering-departure-board
The timings would be proof of fraud since the timings of the taps would not be possible without passing through Zone 1. TfL could even write some code to not provide the discount if there is too short a time between taps for the discounted route to have been taken.
I don't think the terms and conditions for Oyster / Contactless entertain the idea that using an 'alternative' route is fraud. The parameters for the system are the displacement between origin and destination stations, a maximum journey time, and any touches on the way. Whether you actually avoid Zone 1 in the process is neither here nor there, subject to not using particular gatelines, and certainly not fraud.
Also, any checking system based around how long a journey 'should' take based on the timetable and how long waits between trains are would be complicated, and never work. You could go via Whitechapel, get to Norwood Junction and join a late running Thameslink train which gets to Gatwick before you 'should' have. In disruption trains are sometimes run fast, missing out stations, and so on.
The TfL is quite explicit in stating that this discount is only for journeys avoiding Zone 1.
You'd just take the minimum sum of train times for the route and minus 5-10 minutes for added margin. Simples.
Does touching on a pink reader mean you're claiming not to have gone via zone 1?
TfL decide what to charge, not the passenger. If they decide to charge the passenger a lower fare than they mean to, that's on TfL.
It's not "simples" at all. As other have said, if you make tight connections onto skip-stopping trains the journey time could plausibly be more or less the same via Canada Water as it is via Farringdon.
It's not fraud. It's not fare evasion.
No, it's not explicit at all. The fare that is described is assumed you take that route. Not that you must take that route.
I would love to know what offence they're alleging. Because there's none that I'm aware of. There's nothing in the TfL Oyster conditions (or elsewhere) that says you cannot touch a pink reader and then go via Zone 1, or vice versa.
