More annoyingly when I went to Romford the other month the barriers
lacked
touch pads. How do Oyster season ticket users even get through these
gates normally? (I was lucky as the side gate was open.) And is Romford
the only place within the six zones which lacks readers on its barriers?

National Express refuse to install Oyster pads to their gates at this
station. They claim the barrier design is incompatible and the cost is
prohibitive. TfL say that NE have simply refused to let them do the work
even though it was offered free. So one of them is not telling the whole
truth. The man at the side gate has a hand held battery powered reader. I
used this station recently and there were more people queuing to have their
card read by this man than were able to use the barrier. When asked how
long this ridiculous situation will persist he just said "Nothing to do
with me, mate". To be fair, I can think of no worse job than standing there
all day pretending to be an Oyster pad (for both directions of flow at the
same time!) so I didn't press him futher but suggested he pass on my
complaint to his manager.