London Oyster Fraud

[king12345]

Ok, relax, you're not in trouble.

The oyster card you handed in was not registered, that's why the ticket clerk was able to issue a refund without Id and without password.

He asked for your name and address to register the card in your name there and then and give you a refund.

When the card is not registered, to process a refund, the ticket clerk must input the minimum info required for registration, your name and address, otherwise the ticket machine won't let him process the refund.

If the card had been registered, he would have asked for a password which is given at registration point (ask for a registration form and see for yourself).

When someone forgets the password, a form of id is required to process the refund.

When the oyster card is read by the ticket machine and the clerk starts the refund process, all personal details come up on the screen and they're only allowed to process the refund if they're satisfied that the card owner is standing in front of them.

In your case the personal details were not on the screen because the card was not registered to anyone, so the clerk asked for your name and address to proceed to the next screen and give you a refund.

Even if the previous owner had the card number, they won't be able to report the card lost/stolen because the card was cancelled during the refund.

Also tfl insists on people registering their oyster because if lost no investigation or refund can be processed.

Just to avoid a panic attack, next time you find something, hand it in.

You got lucky this time.

[king12345]

Nothing will happen.

Don't worry

[king12345]

Not innocent at all that's why I said to hand in any further goods found.

What is done is done, can't go back to the past.

If the op feels guilty could donate the £6 to a poor person or a charity

[king12345]

If the oyster card had been handed in, it would have been returned to tfl and any credit would have been left in their account.

Because the card was not registered, the owner wouldn't have been able to get it back in any case.

Lost card, handed in at the station, customer comes back later and claims to have lost the oyster, supervisor will ask if the card was registered, customer replies no, supervisor does not return card.

This is the procedure.

After all, if I am standing in the queue while someone hands in an oyster card, I could go back later claiming I lost it.

That's why tfl would not return a non registered oyster card.

If the person losing it had recharged it with a bank card belonging to them, they still had to go through a process of enquiry, the supervisor would not have the facility to check what bank card was used to top up the oyster, therefore he/she would not return it.

So in summary, in this case the £6 would have gone into tfl coffins.

I let you be the judge of wether this is right or wrong.

Imo tfl should donate to charity all unclaimed oyster funds as well as all profits made by maximum fare for incomplete journeys (70M last year).