TfL Ref: 2132-1617
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 31 January 2017 asking for information about Oyster card use at Westbourne Park station during Notting Hill Carnival. I sincerely apologise for the delay in replying.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can confirm we the information you require.
If you're using Oyster to pay as you go on Tube, DLR, London Overground, TfL Rail, River Bus or National Rail services in London and don't touch in and out, your journey will be incomplete and you may be charged a maximum fare.
When using pay as you go, you must touch in and touch out to ensure you are charged the correct fare. If you don’t, you will get an incomplete journey and will be charged a maximum fare. This information is available on our website (https://tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/maximum-fares, https://tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/incomplete-journeys) and in other publicity that tells you how to use your Oyster or contactless card. Maximum fares act as a deterrent against fraudulent behaviour.
We recognise that for most customers any incomplete journey is likely to be accidental. More often than not, this is simply due to human error; forgetting to touch in or out as they travel around.
We correct these journeys in a variety of ways using both TfL-led and customer-led solutions. We do all we can to proactively fix incomplete journeys so that customers don’t have to take action themselves (although we have measures in place for them to do this).
Firstly, our systems are set up to identify those journeys which have been affected by events (such as the Notting Hill Carnival) or selected planned closures. This means that journeys are corrected at the time of travel so that customers are not charged a maximum fare. Where our system has been unable to complete a journey and charge the correct fare, we have developed processes to identify those journeys and correct the fare to what the customer should have paid for their journey. This includes the auto-completion of journeys where a touch in or touch out is missing. These result in a refund sent to the customer (either to their Oyster card via their most used station and for contactless customers back to their bank account).
Customers can also ask us, at any time, to fix an incomplete journey for them. Customers can fix up to three incomplete journeys a month via their online account. We’ve made this as simple as we can and feedback from customers on this has been positive. Alternatively, they can call Customer Services and staff will fix any incomplete journeys for them.
Given all the above and complexity of these solutions it is not possible to completely represent all of the activity that has taken place to ensure that our customers have paid the correct amount for their travel. Below are the figures you asked for.
Question 1
| Date | | Oyster validations at Westbourne Park |
| | |
| | |
| 24-Aug-15 | | 8,295 |
| 31-Aug-15 | (Carnival) | 4,747 |
| 07-Sep-15 | | 9,687 |
| | |
| 22-Aug-16 | | 7,536 |
| 29-Aug-16 | (Carnival) | 3,013 |
| 05-Sep-16 | | 8,604 |
Question 2
| Date | | Incomplete Oyster PAYG Journeys before refunds (LU/DLR total) |
| | (000) |
| | |
| 24-Aug-15 | | 20.0 |
| 31-Aug-15 | (Carnival) | 41.1 |
| 07-Sep-15 | | 21.1 |
| | |
| 22-Aug-16 | | 23.6 |
| 29-Aug-16 | (Carnival) | 44.4 |
| 05-Sep-16 | | 20.7 |
Question 3
| Date | | Additional revenue from incomplete journeys before refunds. |
| | (£000) |
| | |
| 24-Aug-15 | | 60 |
| 31-Aug-15 | (Carnival) | 85 |
| 07-Sep-15 | | 56 |
| | |
| 22-Aug-16 | | 81 |
| 29-Aug-16 | (Carnival) | 91 |
| 05-Sep-16 | | 67 |
Question 4
| Date | | Refunds issued automatically* |
| | Number | Value (£) |
| | | |
| 24-Aug-15 | | 4,677 | 16,330.70 |
| 31-Aug-15 | (Carnival) | 17,219 | 50,838.10 |
| 07-Sep-15 | | 3,040 | 8,439.60 |
| | | |
| 22-Aug-16 | | 15,208 | 51,264.85 |
| 29-Aug-16 | (Carnival) | 22,501 | 55,261.80 |
| 05-Sep-16 | | 14,977 | 44,160.05 |
* These refunds are only those which have been issued automatically from our systems, it does not include any refunds from other sources such as those issued by our customer service team.
Our advice to customers using pay as you go is to always touch in and touch out when travelling to ensure that they pay the correct fare. Our stations are fully staffed and readers at gates are always operational when the gates are open.
If this is not the information you are looking for, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.
Yours sincerely
Sara Thomas
FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
