Oyster during service disruption

[Brucey]

I was caught up in some service disruption today. My intended journey was from Zone 6 to Zone 5, via a station in Zone 2. Cost should be £1.60 (combined LU + national rail with railcard fare for Zones 2-6).

On arrival at an interchange station I was sent to a Zone 1 station and therefore incurred an increased fare (£3.25).

By dashing to the gates at my destination, I managed to make the maximum journey time with just 40 seconds to spare. Otherwise I would have incurred two maximum fares (probably around £16).

Ticket acceptance was in place, so had I been using a paper ticket, there would have been no further charge above the Zone 2-6 fare.

What are the procedures in cases like this? Are TfL supposed to work out automatic refunds, do I have to contact them, do I contact the TOC/LUL or do I just pay the extra?

(I appreciate the amounts involved today are low, but this has happened to me several times in the past over different routes during the peaks where the fares are higher. It all adds up and I'm getting fed up forking out the extra.)

 

[MikeWh]

It can depend what the disruption was. If it was on TfL lines then they might organise a refund automatically. If your journey was unusual then it might not. Call the helpdesk from the day after and they should sort it out in any case.

 

[CyrusWuff]

Looking at a copy of the current LU "Traffic Circular" (detailing upcoming Engineering Work, among other things), it appears their policy is to charge Oyster PAYG users for the actual journey made as there's no way for the system to identify whether you're making a particular journey through choice, or because of Engineering Works.

 

[CheapAndNerdy]

It can depend what the disruption was. If it was on TfL lines then they might organise a refund automatically. If your journey was unusual then it might not. Call the helpdesk from the day after and they should sort it out in any case.

If the extra cost resulted in auto-topup being triggered, could tfl reverse it?

 

[sonic2009]

I believe the OP may have been caught up in the mess at Clapham this afternoon. It would be helpful to know where traveling.from & to as other options may have been available without traveling via Z1

 

[Brucey]

I believe the OP may have been caught up in the mess at Clapham this afternoon. It would be helpful to know where traveling.from & to as other options may have been available without traveling via Z1

It was Clapham Junction. My destination was West Croydon, having come off the WLL.

The other option suggested by the member of staff was SWT to Wimbledon, then the tram to West Croydon. But then that would cost me an additional £1.40 for the tram fare.

Just realised that being a 1hr+ delay, I'm actually entitled to a full refund of the entire journey from Southern.

I've already said this on Twitter, but thoughts to everyone involved in the incident today. And well done to the Southern staff at Clapham who were giving very sound and confident advice.

 

[island]

If the extra cost resulted in auto-topup being triggered, could tfl reverse it?

Not without some difficulty and faff.

 

[londonbridge]

Looking at a copy of the current LU "Traffic Circular" (detailing upcoming Engineering Work, among other things), it appears their policy is to charge Oyster PAYG users for the actual journey made as there's no way for the system to identify whether you're making a particular journey through choice, or because of Engineering Works.

The very first weekend that PAYG was available on NR "in full", so to speak, I was travelling from East Croydon to Kings Cross. The Thameslink core was closed, the official advice was 'passengers should change at London Bridge and use Underground'. Croydon to London bridge + underground to the cross obviously incurred a higher charge than the direct Thameslink train from croydon to St Pancras, but I was unable to get the excess refunded.

 

[IanD]

I was caught up in some service disruption today. My intended journey was from Zone 6 to Zone 5, via a station in Zone 2. Cost should be £1.60 (combined LU + national rail with railcard fare for Zones 2-6).

On arrival at an interchange station I was sent to a Zone 1 station and therefore incurred an increased fare (£3.25).
...
(I appreciate the amounts involved today are low, but this has happened to me several times in the past over different routes during the peaks where the fares are higher. It all adds up and I'm getting fed up forking out the extra.)

You should not look at the actual amount you were overcharged but instead consider the % that you were overcharged. In this case you were charged over 100% more than you should have been had you not been forced (through no fault of your own) to take a more expensive route.

 

[Be3G]

To echo MikeWh's advice, I once phoned TfL's Oyster help desk with a similar enquiry before, and they told me to pay the normal PAYG fare for the eventual journey and get the difference refunded by phoning back a couple of days later.

 

[Brucey]

You should not look at the actual amount you were overcharged but instead consider the % that you were overcharged. In this case you were charged over 100% more than you should have been had you not been forced (through no fault of your own) to take a more expensive route.

That is a very good way of thinking about it.

Also looking at journey time now the Oyster website has updated, my outbound journey (the one via. Zone 1) took 1 hour and 16 minutes longer than my return journey.

I've contacted the Oyster helpline by email to see what they say.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
The Oyster helpline have arranged for a refund of the £1.65 overcharge. No problems at all.

 

[dvboy]

Unless you touched out and back in at the Z1 interchange, how does it know you've travelled via Z1?

 

[Brucey]

Unless you touched out and back in at the Z1 interchange, how does it know you've travelled via Z1?

I had to pass through four gatelines in Z1: Waterloo NR, Waterloo LU, London Bridge LU and London Bridge NR.

 

[bicbasher]

I had to pass through four gatelines in Z1: Waterloo NR, Waterloo LU, London Bridge LU and London Bridge NR.

Unless the Charing Cross section of line was closed, you should have walked over to Waterloo East instead, which would have charged you the NR Oyster fare, saving you the TfL Zone 1 dual mode premium.