Challenging maximum fare charge

What these charges are

When you use contactless or Oyster pay as you go on Transport for London (TfL) services, the system works out your fare from where you touch in and where you touch out. If it cannot match a touch-in with a touch-out, it cannot calculate the correct fare, so it applies a maximum fare. This is set out in TfL’s Conditions of Carriage. A maximum fare is normally charged where one end of the journey is missing, and in some cases two maximum fares can be charged if both ends are unresolved. Importantly, maximum fares are not included in any daily fare cap, which is why the charge can look unexpectedly high.

Common reasons a maximum fare is applied include not touching in or out on a yellow card reader, touching in and out at the same station without travelling, using two different cards or devices for the same journey (for example touching in with a phone and out with a physical card), or a journey taking longer than the permitted maximum time between entry and exit.

When you are entitled to a refund

You may be entitled to a refund where you were charged one or two maximum fares because you could not complete a journey properly for reasons that were not your fault. Typical qualifying situations include a card reader being out of order, gates being left open, staff directing you through without touching, or a genuine inability to touch out. If the charge simply reflects that you forgot to touch out, the outcome is less certain, but it is still worth claiming, particularly for a first or occasional occurrence.

How to challenge the charge

1. Wait at least 48 hours. Many maximum fare and incomplete journey charges are corrected automatically once TfL’s system reconciles your travel, so the overcharge may be refunded without you doing anything.

2. Register and check your account. To claim on contactless you need to register the card online by creating a TfL online account. For Oyster you can view your journey history through your Oyster online account. Check the journey history to identify the specific incomplete journey and the amount charged.

3. Apply for an incomplete journey refund. Use TfL’s online incomplete journey refund form (tfl.gov.uk/fares/refunds). You select the journey and give a short explanation of what happened. You must claim within eight weeks of the journey.

4. Await the outcome. TfL says it may take up to ten working days to review a claim. If successful, an Oyster refund is added automatically the next time you touch in or out, while a contactless refund is given either as pay as you go credit or paid back to your bank account.

If your claim is refused

If your claim is rejected and you still believe you were wrongly charged, you can appeal. TfL asks you to call 0343 222 1234 (lines open 08:00 to 20:00, seven days a week). When you do so, be ready with the date and time of the journey, the stations involved, the amount charged, and a clear explanation of why you could not complete the journey correctly, for example that a specific gate or reader was faulty. Keep a note of any staff you spoke to at the time.

Evidence that helps

Your case is stronger if you can point to something beyond your own account. Useful evidence includes your journey history showing the maximum fare, a photograph of an out-of-order reader or open gate, the name or number of any member of staff who let you through, and a contemporaneous note or complaint made at the time. Even where you have limited evidence, a clear and consistent explanation is often enough for a first claim.

Practical points and escalation

Keep claims prompt, because the eight-week window is a firm cut-off. If you are repeatedly hit with maximum fares at a particular station or on a particular device, that pattern is itself worth raising, as it may point to a persistent reader fault or to touching in and out on different devices, which you can then correct in future.

If TfL refuses both the claim and the appeal and you consider the decision plainly wrong, you can pursue TfL’s formal customer complaints process, and ultimately you retain the ordinary right to bring a small claim in the County Court to recover money you say was wrongly taken. In practice that is rarely proportionate for a single maximum fare given the sums involved, and the refund and appeal routes above will resolve the great majority of legitimate cases. The sensible order is automatic refund, then online claim, then telephone appeal, and only then any further formal complaint or court action.

Two situations to distinguish

It is worth separating a genuine incomplete-journey overcharge, which is simply the system defaulting to a maximum fare because it could not price your trip, from a penalty fare or an allegation of fare evasion, which are different processes with their own appeal routes and potential consequences. If what you have received is a penalty fare notice or a suggestion that you travelled without a valid ticket, that is challenged through a separate penalty fare appeals procedure, not the incomplete journey refund form, so check carefully which one you are dealing with before you respond.