Fares – turning round at Cheshunt

Hi,

I have a couple of related queries about situations where you might turn around at Cheshunt station and go back along the overground line from there.

First, I regularly travel from Straford to the area around Waltham Cross. Theobalds Grove station is far more convenient than Waltham Cross itself for this journey, and on certain Greater Anglia services it is possible to go SRA->CHN->TEO with a very tight (<30 second) change at CHN across to the bay platform.

Does anyone know how this fare should be treated on contactless? Empirically it appears to be charged as a Zone 1-7 fare, despite Zone 3-8 being cheaper. Is there anything that can be done to make this journey at the cheaper fare?

Relatedly, does anyone know if it’s permitted to travel LST->CHN->TEO via oyster/contactless, or if this could theoretically cause issues if a revenue inspection were to occur?

I’ve been advised to do this by gateline staff at LST on more than one occasion (Tottenham match days, concert days), making use of the evening Stansted Express services that call at Cheshunt to avoid the otherwise severely-overcrowded stopping services, and wasn’t entirely sure they were dispensing sound advice.