Wimbledon Passengers Hit By Oyster Over-Charging

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Lib-Dem campaigners call for action

Wimbledon train and tube passengers are still being hit by over-charging on their Oyster cards, claim Liberal Democrat campaigners.

They say passengers using Oyster Pay As You Go throughout the network were wrongly charged maximum fares totalling more than £66 million in 2011.

They released the latest figures as Transport for London announced new proposals to allow Oyster card users to check their accounts online and to submit refund applications online.

In Wimbledon, the figures show the charges for incomplete journeys in 2011 totalled £554,000. The station with the highest charges was Waterloo, with a figure of £1.996 million.

Other local stations had the following figures for incomplete journeys: Colliers Wood, £63,000; South Wimbledon, £36,000; Wimbledon Park, £42,000; Southfields, £105,000; Haydons Road, £9,000; Raynes Park, £80,000; Wimbledon Chase, £6,000.

A maximum single fare is deducted for all incomplete Oyster journeys and it is up to the passenger to ensure his or her card is swiped. But sometimes the barriers are open or not working.

Caroline Pidgeon, leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group and chair of the London Assembly Transport Committee, said: "These improvements are welcome and indeed long overdue.

"However the fact remains that Transport for London are still in denial over the real problems behind Oyster overcharging. They continue to portray Oyster overcharging as being solely the fault of passengers when in reality a huge part of the problem is how the technology actually works.

"Even with these changes there still remains much that needs to be done to ensure that honest passengers are not overcharged when using Oyster Pay as You Go."

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May 28, 2012