Oyster overcharging at a station near you
Passengers using Oyster Pay As You Go were ripped off by millions of pounds last year at tube and train stations across the capital. Passengers wrongly faced maximum fares for their journeys at every London Underground and National Rail station, with the weekly amount of incorrectly charged maximum fares exceeding more than £1m.
Across London Underground, National Rail network stations, the DLR and London Overground stations the total amount of maximum fares charged reached a staggering £63,950,000 in 2011.
The figures were obtained by Liberal Democrat Deputy Mayoral candidate and Leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, Caroline Pidgeon.
Commenting, Caroline Pidgeon said:
“This level of overcharging is totally unacceptable. There is something very seriously wrong when each and every week Londoners are ripped off by so much.
“Why has Boris Johnson, who has been chair of Transport for London, not taken this seriously in the last four years?
“Of course in some cases passengers might forget to touch in and touch out, but such huge levels of overcharging clearly demonstrate that there are structural problems with how Oyster is operating. We know for a fact that at some stations, especially when the stations are very busy, maximum fares are automatically set for everyone passing through.
“It is time TfL stopped putting all the blame for Oyster overcharging on to passengers and started to recognise that they have a responsibility to ensure honest passengers are not ripped off.
“And where Oyster overcharging does take place it must be far easier for people to claim a refund.
“TfL should stop treating the level of Oyster overcharging as a state secret. The figures should be regularly published at every station, so that passengers are alerted to this serious problem.”