How does one get the £3 deposit back ? Sounds like an admin charge to
me. That's one reason I haven't bothered so far (Like Colin, I'm an
out of townie who occasionally comes into London).

You can top up with less than £5. I once topped up with 47p. It was
some spare change that i had left afetr a day out. So I stuck it on my
oystercard.

So just £5 initially then (plus £3 deposit)?

Ric Euteneuer wrote:

How does one get the £3 deposit back ? Sounds like an admin charge to
me. That's one reason I haven't bothered so far (Like Colin, I'm an
out of townie who occasionally comes into London).

I simply sent mine back, via a form and handing back in at a station. It's a
hassle having to do this each time, but it's my £3 so I'm hardly likely to
let it go. It takes about a month to arrive as a cheque, but I've got my
first one back - my wife hasn't hers yet and our first ones were returned
on the same day. For £3 they get the enjoyment of processing a small
mountain of paperwork each time I take out an oyster card and return it.
--
Ian Tindale

"Bob Wood" wrote in message ...
In news Jason typed:

I topped up by a mere 30p last night so I could (unofficially) use
Pre-Pay on a bus.

u - n - o - f - f - i - c - i - a - l - l - y

That's an odd way to spell fraudulently!
:-o

why fraudulently?

oyster prepay is now (as the OP said, unofficially) working on buses,
and the 70p fare is being deducted correctly.

the only thing is i've noticed a new message coming up when you use a
Oyster pre-pay lately.

whereas a couple of weeks ago the machine was coming up with the 70p
deducted and the new balance, now it just says something like
"Oystercard Valid Z1-4".

However the 70p is still deducted so no fraud involved.

On Thu, 12 Feb 2004 15:40:27 -0000, "Bob Wood"
wrote:

In news Jason typed:

I topped up by a mere 30p last night so I could (unofficially) use
Pre-Pay on a bus.

u - n - o - f - f - i - c - i - a - l - l - y

That's an odd way to spell fraudulently!
:-o

Hmmm...

Is it fraud if I offered to pay a fare - by presentation of an Oyster
card - and TfL or the bus company accepted it by way of a deduction of
credit?


Cheers,

Jason.

In om,
Steph Davies typed:
"Bob Wood" wrote in message
...
In news Jason typed:

I topped up by a mere 30p last night so I could (unofficially) use
Pre-Pay on a bus.

u - n - o - f - f - i - c - i - a - l - l - y

That's an odd way to spell fraudulently!
:-o

why fraudulently?

oyster prepay is now (as the OP said, unofficially) working on buses,
and the 70p fare is being deducted correctly.


In that case I withdraw the remark and offer my apologies. I had not
realised that 70p was now being deducted.

A few weeks ago I used my (PrePay only) Oyster Card on buses a couple of
times, not realising that they were only in use on the Underground and DLR.
The driver allowed me on the bus, despite the fact that the machine did not
accept the card; nothing was deducted from my balance.

That will teach me not to chip in without having read *every* message on the
subject!



Bob