On 19 Nov, 10:02, "David A Stocks" wrote:
"David A Stocks" wrote in ...I need to do the above trip next Sunday ...

(snipped)

Thanks for all the responses.

I decided to buy a Gold Card discounted Zones 1/2 ODTC. When I tried this
out on a fast-ticket machine at Victoria a day or two before there was no
problem. At Brighton a similar machine brought up the same option but then
refused to sell me the ticket, so I had to go to the ticket office. When I
explained what I needed to do ('stretch this Gold Card to Angel & back' the
guy behind the counter told me the ODTC was the sensible option and duly
sold it to me as 'Battersea Park to Zone 1&2' - I assume this means Southern
get a slice of the revenue? After that everything worked as advertised.

Some friends doing a similar trip from Horsham, made the mistake of going to
Victoria ...

D A Stocks

NR-issued travelcards always do seem to have a "from" station on them,
which always seemed meaningless to me when the station is in the zones
covered by the travelcard.

But now I realise that it could be due to the system of allowing a
travelcard to incorporate a day return from the station named if it's
outside of the zones.

There would be no risk in this case of the ticket being retained on
returning to Battersea Park (if one did).

It has been suggested, although I would dispute it, that the
travelcard part can't be used after the return journey has been
completed. I can understand that it's only valid for one return
journey outside the zones, but I can't see why one couldn't get a lift
back to London and continue using the travelcard (other than due to
not physically having it).