Can I load RTVs onto an Oyster card?

[Squaddie]

I'm sure this has been discussed before, and hinted at fairly recently, but the Search facility didn't return anything useful.

I have £70 in Rail Travel Vouchers, issued by First Great Western in respect of a journey that "did not meet my expectations on this occasion" (as customer services put it).

I'm unlikely to be able to use the vouchers for rail travel in the foreseeable future, so can I load them onto a PAYG Oyster card? If so, can I do so at any London station served by National Rail/Overground or are there only certain stations that can do it? (And am I likely to meet resistance from ticket clerks who might not be aware that this is possible?)

 

[swt_passenger]

I'm sure this has been discussed before, and hinted at fairly recently, but the Search facility didn't return anything useful.

I have £70 in Rail Travel Vouchers, issued by First Great Western in respect of a journey that "did not meet my expectations on this occasion" (as customer services put it).

I'm unlikely to be able to use the vouchers for rail travel in the foreseeable future, so can I load them onto a PAYG Oyster card? If so, can I do so at any London station served by National Rail/Overground or are there only certain stations that can do it? (And am I likely to meet resistance from ticket clerks who might not be aware that this is possible?)

Yes you can. There was a recent thread about a difficulty with RTVs on Oyster, but in that case the poster was having problems getting the four Oyster cards in question refunded. As long as you intend to actually use the PAYG balance once you've loaded it there should be no problem.

I'll let someone else recommend where you should do the deal though...

 

[maniacmartin]

It was recently discussed here.

Any LU ticket office staff member can follow the instructions on pages 33-34 of Ticket Office Operations 5 (obtained under FoI)

Some National Rail stations have the facilities to do this (Marylebone, Wimbledon, Richmond, lots of London Overground stations, East Croydon, Balham and some others).

Not all staff know about the validity, sadly. I recently tried to load an RTV onto Oyster at Oval and both ticket office members said it wasn't valid as it had a National Rail symbol on it, and I was in too much of a hurry to get into an argument about consulting the booklet.

 

[Marionaki]

Yes you can. I had mine loaded on my PAYG oyster at Fulham Broadway tube station a few months ago.

 

[Squaddie]

Thanks for the quick replies.

Yes, I do intend to use the PAYG balance: this isn't a scam in order to get the cash value of the vouchers. My daily commute costs £1.60 each way, so this RTV should cover me for a month or so.

 

[Urban Gateline]

It was recently discussed here.

Any LU ticket office staff member can follow the instructions on pages 33-34 of Ticket Office Operations 5 (obtained under FoI)

Some National Rail stations have the facilities to do this (Marylebone, Wimbledon, Richmond, lots of London Overground stations, East Croydon, Balham and some others).

Not all staff know about the validity, sadly. I recently tried to load an RTV onto Oyster at Oval and both ticket office members said it wasn't valid as it had a National Rail symbol on it, and I was in too much of a hurry to get into an argument about consulting the booklet.

Can I just point out for the sake of clarity that Wimbledon and Richmond stations DO NOT deal with any Oyster enquiries at all anymore.

 

[PermitToTravel]

Yes, I do intend to use the PAYG balance: this isn't a scam in order to get the cash value of the vouchers.

I don't think that would be a scam

Marylebone ticket office are good at Oyster cards (and at most other things)

 

[bb21]

I don't think that would be a scam

Marylebone ticket office are good at Oyster cards (and at most other things)

Obviously not in this case but some people do try and use it to obtain cash equivalents to the vouchers that way.

Personally I don't see what the big fuss is all about. Southern offer to exchange their RTVs for cash at any Southern-operated ticket office (and I have done that a number of times without problem) so I really don't see why other TOCs cannot follow suit.