When it's to zone 9.

Woke up at a friend's place in Wallington, near Croydon and far from the
Pays du PAYG. Wanted to go home to god's own Finsbury Park, then visit a
convalescing friend in Watford and then come home again. So, bought a Z1-9
travelcard.

I happily used to the ticket to take the Southern to Victoria, the Vic to
FP and back to Euston, and London Midland to Watford Junction - where the
ticket machine ate my travelcard. I asked a member of staff, who i think
was some sort of ticket inspector, and he asserted that this was right and
proper - apparently outside Z6, a travelcard is good for one trip inward
and one out. So it is not, as the name might suggest to the naive, a
travelcard.

I had a look through this charming booklet:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloa...d-junction.pdf

And there's no mention of this. It does suggest you read this:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloa...s-zones1-6.pdf

Which merrily chortles:

Travel as much as you like in one day using a Day Travelcard

And doesn't go on to qualify that with regards to Watford.

So, what gives? Where's the rule that says Watford gets to eat my ticket?
Where else am i at risk from surprise cartivory?

I assume what's happening is that a Z1-9 travelcard is actually a return
from BZ9 to Z1-6, much as you might buy a return from Chelmsford to Z1-6,
and as such, is only valid for a trip in from Z9 followed by a trip out,
as the fellow i spoke to indicated. In which case, it's a perfectly
consistent and legit product, but *is not a bloody travelcard*.

I imagine there have been threads about this here before, and i probably
should have paid attention. But i didn't. So, what are my chances of
getting Trading Standards to shut down the Z1-9 TC scam?

tom

--
Glass of water, glass of orange juice, cup of coffee, a spell on the
toilet (Guinness hangovers only), back to bed for a good cry. Fried
breakfast later. -- susumu, on curing hangovers