Christian Hansen
wrote the following in:


Odd happening to me last week. I was going to Shortlands from
Elephant and Castle NR station. I have an Oystercard with an
annual Zone 1-2 ticket and £10 of prepay on it for out-of-zone
travel.

I saw the Oyster reader in the E&C station and thought that meant
that Shortlands had one too (like many NR stations), so I touched
in, assuming that the fare would be deducted from the prepay when
I exited.

Of course, there was no reader at Shortlands and I thought "Well,
I'm going to lose the maximum fare as I didn't touch out."

Actually, prepay doesn't work for most sections of National Rail (IIRC
there are a few parts where it does work, an example being Upminster to
Fenchurch Street). The section you were on is probably a section where
prepay doesn't work, so if there had been a reader you wouldn't have
been able to get out anyway (and also wouldn't have been charged).

Yesterday I went to add some more money and discovered that
nothing had been deducted from my Oystercard prepay amount.

My deduction is that perhaps (and don't try this at home, folks,
unless you're willing to lose lots of money) when touching in at
an NR station in a zone for which you have a valid travelcard on
the Oyster, then not touching out at a station which doesn't have
a reader, you won't be charged.

The way Oyster works is that if you touch in at a station (any station,
LU, DLR or NR) within the zones of your travelcard you won't be charged
if you don't touch out.

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