Following questions put by Caroline Pidgeon, Leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, the Mayor of London has admitted that South West Trains are the only train operating company in London now refusing to sell Oyster tickets or provide Oyster top-ups for passengers. The Mayor also admitted that South West Trains do not even have any plans to start selling Oyster tickets in the near future.
Caroline Pidgeon, who serves as deputy chair of the London Assembly Transport Committee at City Hall, has now written to Brian Souter, Chief Executive of the company that owns South West Trains, urging him to ensure that train passengers using the 44 stations in the boroughs of Hounslow, Kingston, Merton, Richmond and Wandsworth receive the same service as passengers in every other part of London.
Commenting on the continual delays by South West Trains in selling Oyster tickets, Caroline said:
“This week South West Trains claim to be recognising National Customer Service Week, but in practice their passengers are getting a raw deal each and every week of the year due to the company’s stubborn refusal to serve Oyster tickets.
“It is time South West Trains caught up with the other train operating companies in London and provided a proper service to their customers.”
You can read more about this here in the Hounslow Chronicle and in the Richmond and Twickenham Times.