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Oyster Card users were “overcharged” more than £60 million last year with rail travellers most likely to be hit in the pocket.

Passengers failed to swipe in or out on five per cent of all rail journeys last year — and were charged the maximum single fare of up to £8.30 as a penalty.

On national rail services into and out of London, there were 4.6 million incomplete Oyster journeys totalling £23 million in revenue in the first 10 months of 2013.

Passengers on national rail are three times more likely to be hit with the maximum fare than travellers on the Tube and buses in London.

Rail companies were today urged to do more to alert passengers to the pitfalls of failing to swipe in and out.

A spokesman for passenger group London TravelWatch said: “We have concerns about the level of ‘overcharging’, particularly on National Rail services. This occurs largely because of the higher proportion of stations that are not gated, and because of the reluctance of National Rail operators to provide adequate signage by Oyster validators at the entrances to these stations.”

Southeastern will shortly be putting DLR-style signage on its readers.

Caroline Pidgeon, Lib-Dem leader at the London Assembly, said: “The fact that train users are overcharged three times as much as Tube users exposes just what a lottery it is to be correctly charged by Oyster Pay as You Go.

“Oyster Pay as You Go has now been operating for almost 11 years, but for too long it has seemed that TfL and the train companies want to blame passengers rather than resolve the problems. The time for excuses for ripping off passengers, especially by the train companies, has long passed.”

Overcharging figures were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. On the Tube there were six million incomplete journeys — 1.5 per cent of the total — worth some £30 million, with £3.7 million in excess fares on London Overground and £3.2 million on DLR.

Transport for London says maximum fares — from £7.20 to £8.30 depending on the zone — are a deterrent to evasion and do not amount to “overcharging”. A third of the revenue is “subject to refund” and £17 million would be charged anyway for the journey made.

Spikes in overcharging on the Tube occur when barriers are faulty or are left open for events such as football matches. TfL has introduced automatic refunds when its system spots an error based on a passenger’s typical journey. The proportion of incomplete journeys has fallen gradually in recent years.

A spokesman for the Rail Delivery Group said: “At stations where mistakes are more common, train companies have improved signs and increased announcements.” Shashi Verma, TfL’s Director of Customer Experience, said: “We have been working hard to ensure customers do pay the correct fare.”