In article <48622ca9$1@dnews.tpgi.com.au>, peter@junk.com.au (peter)
wrote:

>  wrote in message 
>
news:b69270eb-619a-457a-bfe4-e93cf781cef8@p25g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
> > On Jun 24, 1:33 pm, Paul Weaver  wrote:
> >> On 22 Jun, 03:39, "peter"  wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> > "Paul Corfield"  wrote in message
> >>
> >> >news:fpvi541uhcn1d35qrtnaglej1qnhta01pf@4ax.com...
> >>
> >> > > On Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:12:48 -0700 (PDT),
> >> > > thagor2...@googlemail.com wrote:
> >>
> >> > >>Anyone know?
> >>
> >> > > It's the minimum fare at that station - £1 outside Z1 and £1.50 
> >> > > in Z1.
> >>
> >> > <big  snip>
> >>
> >> > So will the gate at the destination let you out, if after 
> >> > deducting the correct fare, the balance on the card is negative?
> >>
> >> > The reason I ask is that I infrequently visit London, and on my 
> >> > last journey I commenced with £3.00 on the card (Z1 to Waterloo) 
> >> > (eurostar was there in early November) and now I have £1.50 
> >> > sitting on card which won't be used for a year or two (it is a
> >> > registered card-- dunno how long they will allow it to remain
> >> > inactive)
> >>
> >> > The card previously had a 7 day Travelcard on it, so it has no £3 
> >> > deposit.
> >>
> >> > I suspect to avoid giving Tfl a long term interest free loan, :-) 
> >> > I should try to commence my last journey with only £1.50 on the
> >> > card.
> >>
> >> Or you could just take it to a ticket window and say "gimme my 
> >> money". As it's registered I dont think there's an issue.
> >
> > Unless you've used both cash and a credit card to top it up. Then you
> > can only get the money back by cheque, posted to your address.
> >
> > Bit of a bugger if your usual currency isn't GBP.
> 
> Ok thanks for the replies..  I want to keep the card, so in future 
> I will just run it down to zero.
> It's useful as I can add funds from here (Sydney) prior to any trip 
> to London and don't have to pay the £3 deposit

It depends on the frequency of your visits to London I suppose but we
keep our cards at a minimum normal balance of £1.50 so we're not forced
to queue up at King's Cross to top it up before entering the tube. For
almost every tube journey we make the other end of the trip is a better
place to top up a card than King's Cross.

-- 
Colin Rosenstiel