Simply touch your Oyster card on the yellow card reader on the ticket machine, select Oyster refund and follow the on-screen instructions. You can see the refunded amount due on the screen before finalising your request.

To get a refund on your Oyster card in 2026, the process depends on whether you have a "standard" or "Visitor" Oyster card and how much balance is remaining. If you have less than £10 in Pay-As-You-Go credit, you can get an instant refund at any TfL ticket machine in a London Underground station; the machine will dispense the remaining credit and your original deposit (if applicable) in cash. If your balance is over £10, you must either post the card to Transport for London (TfL) or register the card online and request a refund to your bank account via the "Oyster and contactless" app. It is important to note that the £7 card fee introduced for cards purchased after September 2022 is non-refundable; it is now considered a purchase price rather than a "deposit." For most short-term visitors in 2026, the best advice is to avoid Oyster cards altogether and use Contactless payment (debit card or phone), which offers the same daily fare caps but requires no deposit and leaves no "trapped" balance at the end of your trip to London.