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I travelled from Gatwick Airport to West Hampstead Thameslink then West Hampstead (Underground) to Willesden Green with my NR Oyster Card. As there is an OSI between the West Hampstead stations, I attempted to break it by touching in and out at West Hampstead Thameslink after I touched out at West Hampstead Thameslink. A maximum fare was charged. I then walked to West Hampstead (Underground) to touch in. However, when I touched out at Willesden Green, the fare shown was £1.90 instead of the expected £1.30.
I’ll follow up with more information later.
I was waiting for more details before replying, but I’ll offer some thoughts now.
What you need to remember is that each time you touch out the system tries to calculate the fare from the current origin to the place where you’ve just touched out. So, what you ended up doing looks like it should have been:
Gatwick Airport to West Hampstead Thameslink: £7.10 (journey ended)
West Hampstead Thameslink same station exit: £7.00 (max fare will be cancelled by entry within 45 minutes)
West Hampstead Thameslink to Willesden Green: undefined (2 leg journey starting with OSI)£1.90 is a TfL-LU zone 1-2 off-peak fare with railcard which seems logical as the cheapest potential route would be via zone 1. Starting (or ending) a journey with an OSI is troublesome if the fares don’t exist publicly, or do but are not what you’d expect.
This reason is I avoided breaking the OSI by means of tapping in and out at the Underground station, because the tap in at the Underground station would reopen the journey rather than starting a new one, and when I tapped out the fare would be adjusted to the fare from Gatwick to West Hampstead (Underground).
However, this record looks like the existence of OSI overruled the fact that a same station exit between 0-2 minutes is cancelled within 45 minutes, which can prove problematic if one accidentally enters the wrong station among a set of OSIs to start his journey.
I also tried entering a station before 09:30, realised that it was too early and exited immediately (where a peak maximum fare was charged) and re-entered after 09:30, and the correct off-peak fare was finally deducted.
I would have used KeyGo for the Thameslink leg if I knew I would travel this route to prevent problems, but unfortunately I was trying to catch a Southern train for Clapham Junction (for Kensal Rise, where a through Oyster fare was cheapest) and the train door was closed in front of me.
Sunday, 05 October 2025 £9.00 daily total
21:29 – 21:40 West Hampstead Thameslink [National Rail] to Willesden Green £1.90 £14.85
21:40 Touch out, Willesden Green +£2.75 £14.85
21:32 Touch in, West Hampstead [London Underground] £0.00 £12.10
21:29 Touch out, West Hampstead Thameslink [National Rail] £0.00 £12.10
21:29 Touch in, West Hampstead Thameslink [National Rail] £4.65 £12.10
20:28 – 21:29 Gatwick Airport to West Hampstead Thameslink [National Rail] £7.10 £16.75
21:29 Touch out, West Hampstead Thameslink [National Rail] +£1.85 £16.75
20:28 Touch in, Gatwick Airport £8.95 £14.90
20:28 Oyster helpline refund, Gatwick Airport +£9.30 £23.85A refund has been given after I contacted the customer service.
I’ll use two cards if I plan to do such journeys in the future.
However, this record looks like the existence of OSI overruled the fact that a same station exit between 0-2 minutes is cancelled within 45 minutes, which can prove problematic if one accidentally enters the wrong station among a set of OSIs to start his journey.
It seems to have been cancelled to me. They didn’t deduct a new entry charge at West Hampstead LU and adjusted it to the ‘correct’ fare for the whole journey on exit at Willesden Green.
I also tried entering a station before 09:30, realised that it was too early and exited immediately (where a peak maximum fare was charged) and re-entered after 09:30, and the correct off-peak fare was finally deducted.
That’s also what I’d expect to happen.
I’ll use two cards if I plan to do such journeys in the future.
That will certainly get round your 60p overcharge, but bear in mind if you do further journeys in the same day you might not benefit from the correct cap.
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