Good afternoon everyone,
Thank you very much in advance for reading my post. I have tried to find an answer in other threads but I am still not 100% sure about the issue.
I live at Forest Hill (zone 3) and work at Gatwick Airport. I have got a TravelCard for zones 3-5 on my Oyster card and buy NR tickets from East Croydon (zone 5) to Gatwick Airport. Every morning I touch in at Forest Hill, travel to Norwood junction, where I change trains, pass through East Croydon and get off at the Gatwick Airport, where I use a NR ticket at the barriers. There is no touch-out recorded on my Oyster card for my morning journey. I have been doing this for nearly a year now without any problems.
This morning I called the TfL customer line because of a refund application (the refund request is not important in this issue). The lady on the phone went through my journey history and discovered that I do not touch out my Oyster card every morning (and for most of the afternoons as well). I described her my commuting pattern and she said I should get off at East Croydon, touch-out and then use NR ticket to get to Gatwick. I found this ridiculous as I have a valid ticket for every part of my journey. She said she understood that it would cause a major discomfort to me, but repeated that I need to do it in order to use Oyster card properly. Moreover, she mentioned that I can be fined for not touching out the Oyster card and as I had been just given advice on this, any refund claims might be rejected in the future as I do not use my Oyster card properly.
I would like to ask if she was right and I really need to get off a train to my destination just to go through the station barriers using my Oyster card and immediately back using my NR ticket. This would cause me a delay of at least 20 minutes every day.
Many thanks for your answers in advance.
Thanks,
Petr
Thank you very much in advance for reading my post. I have tried to find an answer in other threads but I am still not 100% sure about the issue.
I live at Forest Hill (zone 3) and work at Gatwick Airport. I have got a TravelCard for zones 3-5 on my Oyster card and buy NR tickets from East Croydon (zone 5) to Gatwick Airport. Every morning I touch in at Forest Hill, travel to Norwood junction, where I change trains, pass through East Croydon and get off at the Gatwick Airport, where I use a NR ticket at the barriers. There is no touch-out recorded on my Oyster card for my morning journey. I have been doing this for nearly a year now without any problems.
This morning I called the TfL customer line because of a refund application (the refund request is not important in this issue). The lady on the phone went through my journey history and discovered that I do not touch out my Oyster card every morning (and for most of the afternoons as well). I described her my commuting pattern and she said I should get off at East Croydon, touch-out and then use NR ticket to get to Gatwick. I found this ridiculous as I have a valid ticket for every part of my journey. She said she understood that it would cause a major discomfort to me, but repeated that I need to do it in order to use Oyster card properly. Moreover, she mentioned that I can be fined for not touching out the Oyster card and as I had been just given advice on this, any refund claims might be rejected in the future as I do not use my Oyster card properly.
I would like to ask if she was right and I really need to get off a train to my destination just to go through the station barriers using my Oyster card and immediately back using my NR ticket. This would cause me a delay of at least 20 minutes every day.
Many thanks for your answers in advance.
Thanks,
Petr