London Underground users charged £365m for incomplete journeys
London’s Tube travellers are leaving themselves open to over-charging by failing to “tap out” with oysters or bank cards at stations on the Underground network.
TfL has charged its customers £365m over six years from cards with incomplete journeys, according to figures provided to the Evening Standard.
During peak hours, the Tube network charges £7.80 on incomplete journeys, although the fare can be as high as £14.80 for journeys that cover areas outside of the London fare zone. The “highest earning” station from incomplete journeys was Waterloo National Rail, followed by Victoria National Rail, Bank, the Kings Cross Underground, Bank and Stratford.
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A total of 372,042 passengers carried out incomplete journeys at Waterloo National Rail over the six year period, while 287,935 made the same mistake at Victoria National Rail.
TfL says that it tries to complete journeys automatically, based on the user’s journey history, and takes into account disruptive events such as major sports matches that get in the way of “tapping out”. Travellers can also apply for a refund online.
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Customers have received £72m in refunds since 2010.
Shashi Verma, Director of Customer Experience at TfL, told the Standard: “We are constantly working to reduce the number of incomplete journeys, which we recognise are very often due to a simple oversight.”
"Where we can, we give customers automatic refunds without needing to contact us. We also make it easy to obtain a refund online and through our local rate telephone number and regularly remind customers to touch in and out to guarantee the right fare.”