Over £200,000 stuck on unused Oyster cards

Over £200,000 are stuck on unused Oyster cards, figures have revealed.

Caroline Pidgeon, London Assembly Liberal-Democrat leade, has revealed that the £223,392,863 lying dormant on cards has increased by more than £50 million over the last 12 months as passengers buy Oyster cards, load them up but then don’t use them.

Pidgeon said: “It obviously suits TfL’s cash flow situation to be sitting on a huge mountain of unclaimed money from dormant Oyster cards but we should never forget that people are always entitled to claim back their own money.

“The amount of money left on unused Oyster cards has been steadily growing but with the advent of contactless payment the amount of money left on unused Oyster cards has soared to records levels and is now approaching a quarter of a billion pounds.”

“It should also stop peddling the misleading claim that many people are not claiming back their deposits and money left on Oyster cards as they wish to keep them as a souvenir of their visit to London.”

TfL’s director of customer experience Shashi Verma said: “The credit balance on Oyster cards never runs out and customers can obtain a full refund whenever they wish.

“This is why we regularly publish the amount of credit left on Oyster cards, remind our customers that the credit never expires and provide information on how to get a full refund from Tube station ticket machines or by contacting our customer services team on 0343 2221234.

“Customers who would prefer never to top-up credit might consider using their contactless bank card instead.”