Oyster ‘card already used’

[alex397]

I have arrived in London, topped up my Oyster card so it has £11 on it. However, when scanning my Oyster at the ticket barrier at St Pancras Thameslink, it wouldn’t let me through and said ‘seek assistance, card already used’ (this is my first time using it for a few months). The ticket barrier staff said they have never seen this before, and I haven’t either.

As I came on Southeastern Highspeed (where Oyster is accepted from Stratford Intl) maybe my Oyster inadvertently scanned, however it was in my bag.

Any ideas what this could be? I may try going to a TfL station to see what happens there.

Well, looking at my journey history, I have somehow been charged £9.40 at St Pancras Intl. I have no idea how this happened, as my Oyster card was in my bag at the time.
Unless this was some sort of error when I first scanned it at the Thameslink gate.

Anyone know how I can get this money back? My Oyster is registered but I’ve never been able to log on online, even when I try to recover my account.

 

[AY1975]

No idea, I'm afraid. I would say that your best bet would be to post a query on the excellent unofficial Oyster Fares website: https://oysterfares.com/

You would have to set up an account on that site, and once you've done that you can click on Forums and then select Using Oyster and post a query on there.

 

[Darandio]

Calling @MikeWh

He runs the above site I believe?

 

[jon81uk]

Best to phone TfL about the refund.

 

[MikeWh]

I have arrived in London, topped up my Oyster card so it has £11 on it. However, when scanning my Oyster at the ticket barrier at St Pancras Thameslink, it wouldn’t let me through and said ‘seek assistance, card already used’ (this is my first time using it for a few months). The ticket barrier staff said they have never seen this before, and I haven’t either.

As I came on Southeastern Highspeed (where Oyster is accepted from Stratford Intl) maybe my Oyster inadvertently scanned, however it was in my bag.

Any ideas what this could be? I may try going to a TfL station to see what happens there.

Well, looking at my journey history, I have somehow been charged £9.40 at St Pancras Intl. I have no idea how this happened, as my Oyster card was in my bag at the time.
Unless this was some sort of error when I first scanned it at the Thameslink gate.

Anyone know how I can get this money back? My Oyster is registered but I’ve never been able to log on online, even when I try to recover my account.

OK, £9.40 is the peak entry charge for stations in zone 1-6. That means it has nothing to do with the HS1 gates which only ever charge the appropriate fare. It looks like there was a problem at St Pancras meaning the gates didn't open but your card was charged. You'll need to contact TfL and I'd ask them for assistance logging in as well.

 

[island]

Did you pass through the gates closely behind someone?

I have had it happen when passing through gates in quick succession that passenger A inserts a ticket which is rejected, then passenger B scans their card, the gate opens, passenger A passes through on passenger B’s ticket, and passenger B tries their card again but it’s rejected as “already used”.

It can happen within the course of a few seconds without passenger B realising that passenger A didn’t have a valid ticket.

Regardless, you can call TfL on 0343 222 1234 (you may need to wait until tomorrow for the transaction to post) and they should refund it.

 

[fandroid]

Did you pass through the gates closely behind someone?

I have had it happen when passing through gates in quick succession that passenger A inserts a ticket which is rejected, then passenger B scans their card, the gate opens, passenger A passes through on passenger B’s ticket, and passenger B tries their card again but it’s rejected as “already used”.

It can happen within the course of a few seconds without passenger B realising that passenger A didn’t have a valid ticket

I've certainly seen that happen with paper tickets. Passenger A nips through leaving passenger B open-mouthed. Quite easy on wide gates