Do be cautious out there. Was traveling home on the number 1. I was talking
with a friend I saw on the bus, and as we went to get off at the Elephant, a
guy was standing in the middle of the exit. I excused myself and he moved and
we got off.

Only later did I realise that my Oystercard wallet was missing.

Now, I suppose I'm lucky that I didn't keep anything else valuable (work ID
card, but that's easily replaced) in the wallet; occasionally people keep
money in it. However, when I called Oystercard to report the loss, it was
slightly after 8 pm and they close down at 8. So I need to wait until tomorrow
morning to report it (if they're open on Bank Holiday weekends...) and it
probably won't be cancelled until Sunday and replaced until a week from
Monday.

I'm pretty cheesed off. On the bright side, I've been living in cities now for
33 years and this is my first picked pocket. Another bright side: they didn't
get my wallet or keys. Dark side: Oyster shuts down too early and should have
some way to report the loss even after 8 pm, perhaps through the login on the
website.
--
Chris Hansen | chrishansenhome at btinternet dot com
The British philosopher J. L. Austin came to Columbia and
pointed out that although two negatives make a positive,
nowhere is it the case that two positives make a negative.
"Yeah, yeah," Dr. Morgenbesser said.

On Fri, 27 Aug 2004 20:50:07 +0000, Christian Hansen wrote:

Do be cautious out there. Was traveling home on the number 1. I was talking
with a friend I saw on the bus, and as we went to get off at the Elephant, a
guy was standing in the middle of the exit. I excused myself and he moved and
we got off.

Only later did I realise that my Oystercard wallet was missing.

Hmm, is that a valid excuse. On the bus, inspector comes on, claim you had
a pre-pay oyster but it's been lifted.

Same with the tube.

On Sat, 28 Aug 2004 02:58:08 +0100, Paul Weaver wrote:

On Fri, 27 Aug 2004 20:50:07 +0000, Christian Hansen wrote:

Do be cautious out there. Was traveling home on the number 1. I was talking
with a friend I saw on the bus, and as we went to get off at the Elephant, a
guy was standing in the middle of the exit. I excused myself and he moved and
we got off.

Only later did I realise that my Oystercard wallet was missing.

Hmm, is that a valid excuse. On the bus, inspector comes on, claim you had
a pre-pay oyster but it's been lifted.

Same with the tube.

It didn't apply in this case, as I was getting off the bus at the time.

I don't know whether it would be a valid excuse were an inspector to demand it
while I was on the bus or the Tube (BTW, I can't remember the last time I
encountered an inspector on the Tube). I'm sure it's not the first time and it
won't be the last time that such a thing has happened.

Since Oystercards are cancellable, I should think that the inspector might
take into account genuine distress and such but I would expect that, just as
replacement tix while you are waiting for your new Oystercard are refundable,
any fine you might have to pay upon discovering the loss would be refundable
too. Couldn't go to that particular well twice, of course.

In connection with this, this morning, while waiting for the Oystercard phone
line to become active I got to the Oystercard website, finally figured out how
to log in (you have to go to the "Buy a card" link and you can then log in)
and only THEN discovered that you could report your card lost or stolen
online. This is a major lapse of their site design.

What they need to have is a big "Report your card lost or stolen" link on the
front page, with instructions to log in if you are an online purchaser, which
will bring you to the page where you report the card lost, or with the phone
number and hours of operation for those who are not online purchasers.

It allows you to specify which card (if you have more than one, which I don't)
is lost, and whether they need to supply you with a new photocard. They say
that someone will get in touch.

Oh, and once you're reported it missing they cancel it and you can't
reactivate it. So make darn sure it is lost before reporting it.
--
Chris Hansen | chrishansenhome at btinternet dot com
The British philosopher J. L. Austin came to Columbia and
pointed out that although two negatives make a positive,
nowhere is it the case that two positives make a negative.
"Yeah, yeah," Dr. Morgenbesser said.

In message , at 07:52:15 on
Sat, 28 Aug 2004, Christian Hansen
remarked:
Hmm, is that a valid excuse. On the bus, inspector comes on, claim you had
a pre-pay oyster but it's been lifted.

Same with the tube.

It didn't apply in this case, as I was getting off the bus at the time.

I don't know whether it would be a valid excuse were an inspector to demand it
while I was on the bus or the Tube (BTW, I can't remember the last time I
encountered an inspector on the Tube). I'm sure it's not the first time and it
won't be the last time that such a thing has happened.

It's a non-issue surely, as the use of the Oyster to board the bus will
have been logged centrally. (Or captured locally, to be logged
centrally, later).
--
Roland Perry

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
.uk...
In message , at 07:52:15 on
Sat, 28 Aug 2004, Christian Hansen
remarked:
Hmm, is that a valid excuse. On the bus, inspector comes on, claim you
had
a pre-pay oyster but it's been lifted.

Same with the tube.

It didn't apply in this case, as I was getting off the bus at the time.

I don't know whether it would be a valid excuse were an inspector to
demand it
while I was on the bus or the Tube (BTW, I can't remember the last time I
encountered an inspector on the Tube). I'm sure it's not the first time
and it
won't be the last time that such a thing has happened.

It's a non-issue surely, as the use of the Oyster to board the bus will
have been logged centrally. (Or captured locally, to be logged
centrally, later).

If you have an anonymous oyster card? Or if its a season ticket?
--
Everything above is the personal opinion of the author, and nothing to do
with where he works and all that lovely disclaimery stuff.
Posted in his lunch hour too.

In message , at 15:30:41 on Sat, 28
Aug 2004, Paul Weaver remarked:
It's a non-issue surely, as the use of the Oyster to board the bus will
have been logged centrally. (Or captured locally, to be logged
centrally, later).

If you have an anonymous oyster card?

They must still have some kind of serial number, how else can the OP
phone up and get it cancelled?

Or if its a season ticket?

Why are they different, surely they are logged as a much as pre-pay (so
Ken can get his statistics on who commutes where).
--
Roland Perry

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
.uk...
In message , at 15:30:41 on Sat, 28
Aug 2004, Paul Weaver remarked:
It's a non-issue surely, as the use of the Oyster to board the bus will
have been logged centrally. (Or captured locally, to be logged
centrally, later).

If you have an anonymous oyster card?

They must still have some kind of serial number, how else can the OP
phone up and get it cancelled?

Or if its a season ticket?

Why are they different, surely they are logged as a much as pre-pay (so
Ken can get his statistics on who commutes where).
--
Roland Perry


They are logged as much. You can see what busses, tubes, trains you've been
on from those big touch screen machines no matter what type of ticket it is.
(You can alos request a print out from the ticket office [eg for expense
claims] but they are often awkward)

I can assure you if a tube inspector stops someone who says his Oyster card
has been stolen they will check it out. Yep it may involve some note taking
and a phone call or two but LUL don't prosecute fare paying customers. :-)

S

"Chris" wrote in message
...

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
.uk...
In message , at 15:30:41 on Sat, 28
Aug 2004, Paul Weaver remarked:
It's a non-issue surely, as the use of the Oyster to board the bus
will
have been logged centrally. (Or captured locally, to be logged
centrally, later).

If you have an anonymous oyster card?

They must still have some kind of serial number, how else can the OP
phone up and get it cancelled?

Or if its a season ticket?

Why are they different, surely they are logged as a much as pre-pay (so
Ken can get his statistics on who commutes where).
--
Roland Perry


They are logged as much. You can see what busses, tubes, trains you've
been
on from those big touch screen machines no matter what type of ticket it
is.
(You can alos request a print out from the ticket office [eg for expense
claims] but they are often awkward)

A thought has occured to me while reading this thread. People get on
buses and swipe their Oyster cards without removing them from the
wallet. Is there any indictation apart from the bleep to the driver
that the card is genuine? If you were to have a fake card you can just
pass it in front of the reader and get on free. If the driver is busy
or there is a lot of noise he's got going to hear the bleep. If an
inspector gets on, do you only have to flash you card at him? Have I
uncovered a major fraud possibility here?

Neill



"SJCWHUK" wrote in message ...
I can assure you if a tube inspector stops someone who says his Oyster card
has been stolen they will check it out. Yep it may involve some note taking
and a phone call or two but LUL don't prosecute fare paying customers. :-)

S

"Chris" wrote in message
...

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
.uk...
In message , at 15:30:41 on Sat, 28
Aug 2004, Paul Weaver remarked:
It's a non-issue surely, as the use of the Oyster to board the bus
will
have been logged centrally. (Or captured locally, to be logged
centrally, later).

If you have an anonymous oyster card?

They must still have some kind of serial number, how else can the OP
phone up and get it cancelled?

Or if its a season ticket?

Why are they different, surely they are logged as a much as pre-pay (so
Ken can get his statistics on who commutes where).
--
Roland Perry


They are logged as much. You can see what busses, tubes, trains you've
been
on from those big touch screen machines no matter what type of ticket it
is.
(You can alos request a print out from the ticket office [eg for expense
claims] but they are often awkward)

In message , at
01:49:42 on Wed, 1 Sep 2004, Neill Wood
remarked:
A thought has occured to me while reading this thread. People get on
buses and swipe their Oyster cards without removing them from the
wallet. Is there any indictation apart from the bleep to the driver
that the card is genuine? If you were to have a fake card you can just
pass it in front of the reader and get on free. If the driver is busy
or there is a lot of noise he's got going to hear the bleep. If an
inspector gets on, do you only have to flash you card at him? Have I
uncovered a major fraud possibility here?

The Nottingham City busses have an Oyster-like card, and readers by the
driver. They only sell 7-day, 30-day and annual "travelcards" though,
not prepay. You could get past some drivers with a card and a separate
"beeper", but there's a big green light on the side of the reader that
flashes too.

The conductors on the Trams, however, never read the cards[1], and just
showing them a card (which could easily have expired) is good enough.

[1] They have a gadget that prints tickets, not sure if it has the
capability to read the cards.
--
Roland Perry