I boarded a London Bus with an Oyster Card that had insufficient credit for the journey. I had used it twice previously during the day and was unaware that the credit was running low.

However the Revenue Inspector simply asked to see the card, told me that there was insufficient credit and asked for my details. She did not confiscate the card, issue an intention to prosecute notice, or even a fixed penalty, nor was i advised of any rights to appeal.

She did however say that TFL would write to me. So now what? Everything i've read on this subject suggests that Revenue Inspectors are supposed to either issue a penalty fare or advise you of their intention to prosecute.

traveller wrote:
I boarded a London Bus with an Oyster Card that had insufficient
credit for the journey. I had used it twice previously during the
day and was unaware that the credit was running low.

So you boarded the bus and touched in, which would have produced a
reject status/light/sound from the reader? Then what did you do?

However the Revenue Inspector simply asked to see the card, told me
that there was insufficient credit and asked for my details. She did
not confiscate the card, issue an intention to prosecute notice, or
even a fixed penalty, nor was i advised of any rights to appeal.

She did however say that TFL would write to me. So now what?
Everything i've read on this subject suggests that Revenue
Inspectors are supposed to either issue a penalty fare or advise
you of their intention to prosecute.

I think we've had similar situations to yours reported here before.
You'll just have to wait for their letter. Meanwhile you might like to
read about auto top-up. See http://tinyurl.com/2z6fm3

--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

I got on the bus because i didn't hear the 'reject' sound, it's an easy mistake to make. There was a scrum of people crowding onto the bus, you have a split second to swipe your card before the person behind you swipes theirs (it wasn't a 'bendy-bus') However i wasn't aware of the top-up scheme, so many thanks for pointing that out. I've had to get off the bus on more than one occaision because there were insufficient funds on the card, only to have to walk half a mile to the nearest newsagents to top it up. Perhaps if TFL spent as much money publicising the top-up schemes available to pay-as-you-go users as they do threatening people with legal action, the problem would be reduced. However i'm still curious to know why the Revenue Inspector did not follow procedure.

On May 27, 2:10 pm, traveller
wrote:
I got on the bus because i didn't hear the 'reject' sound, it's an easy
mistake to make. There was a scrum of people crowding onto the bus, you
have a split second to swipe your card before the person behind you
swipes theirs (it wasn't a 'bendy-bus') However i wasn't aware of the
top-up scheme, so many thanks for pointing that out. I've had to get
off the bus on more than one occaision because there were insufficient
funds on the card, only to have to walk half a mile to the nearest
newsagents to top it up. Perhaps if TFL spent as much money publicising
the top-up schemes available to pay-as-you-go users as they do
threatening people with legal action, the problem would be reduced.
However i'm still curious to know why the Revenue Inspector did not
follow procedure.




Can a Revenue Inspector tell from their reader whether an Oyster is
registered or not? If they can, it might make a difference to the
procedure.

Revenue Inspectors can tell whether a card is registered but mine isn't. I've seen Revenue Inspectors in action in the past. They confiscate the card, issue a ticket for the remainder of the journey, and take the name, address and date of birth of the passenger which they check. They then issue either a penalty fine or a notice to prosecute and advise the passenger of their right to appeal. The inspector who i spoke to, asked me to write my details in her notebook (rather than taking the details herself) she then disappeared to the lower deck for a couple of minutes, presumably to check my details, before giving me the card back!

"traveller" wrote in message
...

I got on the bus because i didn't hear the 'reject' sound, it's an easy
mistake to make. There was a scrum of people crowding onto the bus, you
have a split second to swipe your card before the person behind you
swipes theirs

This is a different bus to the one that I last got on.

On that you stand in front of the pad and the person
behind has no chance to touch it with their card until
you get out of the way. It's your choice to do that in
'a second', not theirs.

tim

On Sun, 27 May 2007 10:59:12 +0100, traveller
wrote:

I boarded a London Bus with an Oyster Card that had insufficient credit
for the journey. I had used it twice previously during the day and was
unaware that the credit was running low.

This is either a troll or a person who did not check for the bleep and
green light on boarding.

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.

Neil Williams wrote:
On Sun, 27 May 2007 10:59:12 +0100, traveller
wrote:

I boarded a London Bus with an Oyster Card that had insufficient credit
for the journey. I had used it twice previously during the day and was
unaware that the credit was running low.

This is either a troll or a person who did not check for the bleep and
green light on boarding.

Probably the latter. I doubt everybody instinctively knows to wait for
a bleep and a green light.

Seeing as this wasn't a bendy-bus, why didn't the driver point out
traveller's error right away? That's what the drivers here do when the
farebox gives a boop instead of a beep.
--
David of Broadway
New York, NY, USA

If you think that everyone queues up, patiently waiting to touch their card against the reader, you've obviously never travelled on a London bus.

The driver wouldn't have had much idea whose card it was when there are a scrum of people pushing and shoving their way onto the bus all at once.