How to contact TfL about a refund

The phone number

Transport for London customer services is 0343 222 1234, and it is the right number for fares, overcharges and refunds. Call charges apply at standard rates.

On opening hours, TfL contradicts itself and it is worth knowing before you plan a Saturday morning call. The refund pages say 08:00 to 20:00, seven days a week. The general help and contacts page says 08:00 to 20:00 Monday to Friday for anything that is not journey planning or a safety concern. We would trust the refund pages, since they are the topic-specific ones, but we would not bet an afternoon on it.

When you do not need to call

Most people searching for this number are trying to solve one of two problems, and neither is handled on the phone.

• You forgot to tap out and got a maximum fare. That is fixed in your account in about two minutes. Transport for London also asks you to wait 48 hours first, because most of these are corrected automatically. See incomplete journey refunds.
• You were charged on two cards for one journey. Also an account job. See card clash.

Both live under journey and payment history once you sign in at tfl.gov.uk/account. If you can see the journey, you can usually fix it without speaking to anybody.

When calling is the right move

Four situations genuinely need a person.

• Your claim was refusedand you think it was wrong. TfL's stated appeal route for both incomplete journey and service delay refunds is to call this number. There is no online appeal.
• The journey is older than the self-service window allows but still inside the deadline.
• You are using a photocard, a Zip, a 60+, a student or Veterans Oyster, or a Visitor Oyster. Those have no online refund route at all.
• You have unpaid fares showing and cannot travel until they are settled.

Why there is no contactless form

A lot of searching for a TfL contact form ends in a loop, and there is a reason. The Oyster contact form exists, but it says outright that it is not for contactless and points you back at the refunds page. The page that used to be the contactless contact form now redirects straight to the sign-in screen.

So for contactless there are exactly two routes: the account, or the phone. There is no third option, however long you look for one.

If you have not registered your card, TfL's unregistered lookup will show you the last seven days only. Anything older, and any refund at all, needs a registered account.

Post and email

For delay claims on paper tickets or National Rail smartcards, which cannot be done online, Transport for London takes them by email at customerservices@tfl.gov.uk or by post to TfL Customer Services, 9th Floor, 5 Endeavour Square, London E20 1JN.

For everything contactless, neither route is faster than the account.