£10 admin charges for Oyster refunds

Dear K Sutton

Thank you for your email received by Transport for London (TfL) on 1 June
2011 where you have asked for information about the £10 admin charge for
Oyster refunds.

Your request will be processed in accordance with TfL’s Freedom of
Information Act 2000 procedure and a response will be provided to you by
29 June in accordance with the Act.

In the meantime, if you would like to discuss this matter further, please
do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours Sincerely

Lee Hill
FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team
Corporate Governance Directorate
General Counsel
Transport for London
[1][TfL request email]

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Dear K Sutton

TfL Ref: FOI-0241-1112

Thank you for your email received by Transport for London (TfL) on 1 June
2011 asking for information about the £10 administration charge for
Oyster refunds.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of
the Freedom of Information Act and TfL’s information access policy. I
can confirm TfL does hold the information you require. You asked:

Why the administration charge of £10 for refunding Travelcards and PAYG
credit on lost/stolen Oyster cards is so high. Please provide a breakdown
of what the £10 is used for.

The £10 administration fee is only applicable to those that do not wish
to transfer their lost or stolen Oyster card data onto their new one. For
example:

· If the customer chooses to have their lost/stolen pay as you go
amount or season ticket transferred to a replacement card there is no fee

· If the customer has lost a pay as you go oyster card they will
receive the full amount shown at the time of reporting it lost or stolen
– i.e.no fee

· If the customer has a season ticket which is lost or stolen and
they choose not to have the card replaced, the season ticket will be
treated as surrendered. As part of that process, a £10 fee will be
applied (as per conditions of carriage).

Unfortunately we are not able to provide a specific breakdown of the £10
fee as no such breakdown exists. However, the process for providing a
refund for a surrendered ticket involves a member of the station staff
processing the application form which is then sent through to the Oyster
tickets and refunds office. There, a member of staff would administer the
refund which is then checked by another member of staff before being
approved by a further member of staff to ensure accuracy and protection
against fraudulent claims.

Once the refund is approved a cheque, costing £2.50 to raise, or
electronic transfer of the funds is provided (at a further cost). It is
felt that the increase from £5 to £10 for the administration fee
reflects the real costs of administering refunds and season ticket
surrenders. A £10 fee does not apply to pay as you go refunds as this is
not considered to be a contract which could be surrendered, but a stored
amount of revenue, which is refunded in its entirety without charge.

If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable
to access it for some reason, 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.

Lee Hill

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

Corporate Governance Directorate

General Counsel

Transport for London

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