Liverpool to Manchester off peak policy

Does anybody know the correct answer to this. The other day I travelled from Liverpool Lime Street to Deansgate on the 16:00 service using an off peak Northern only ticket. Northern's website say you can't travel on an off peak ticket between 16:01 and 18:30 but when I double checked that my 16:00 was OK to travel on person in the ticket office said my ticket was valid on any Northern train after 9:30. In addition to this GM also has restrictions in peak times, but does this only apply to tickets purely used in the GM area?

I ask because I probably go to Liverpool every 6 months using an off peak ticket and I seem to get different answers each time.

Assuming that it's a Manchester Stations to Liverpool Lime Street Off-Peak Day Return, for Northern only, then it's valid on any train after 09:30.

Unfortumately https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/tickets/off-peak does not appear to be written by someone who has a good understanding of how "off-peak" might vary from one ticket to the next.

There isn't a blanket rule about what is peak or off-peak; it varies hugely depending on the ticket you have bought, and the restriction code which applies to that ticket.

A Manchester Stations to Liverpool Stations Off-Peak Day Return routed "Northern only" has restriction code B1 - this means it's valid from 09:30 with no evening restrictions. You can view the restrictions this entails at nre.co.uk/B1 (which would also be printed on your ticket and should be provided during the purchase process).

If you had bought a "Northern only" Off-Peak Return (i.e. a period return) or the same journey, it would have restriction code B3 - valid from 09:00 with no evening restrictions. If you bought an "Any Permitted" Off-Peak Return it would be code TO - valid from 08:30.

So as you can see, whether an Off-Peak ticket is valid depends not only on the journey being made, but the ticket type and route of your ticket. Because of this level of complexity, the off-peak pages of train companies' websites are as good as useless when it comes to finding out the off-peak restrictions that apply.

The evening restrictions you allude to apply to "Any Permitted" (or equivalent) Off-Peak Day tickets issued between two stations in the GMPTE area, as well as a handful of other stations just beyond the boundary such as Warrington and Wilmslow. The details are listed in restriction code ND.

Similar restrictions apply to tickets between SYPTE stations or between WYPTE stations. Tickets between different PTE areas (e.g. Manchester to Hebden Bridge) don't have those restrictions.

I've had problems with this at Victoria, where the barriers seem to be set to reject all off-peak tickets during the PM peak, irrespective of whether the peak restriction actually applies. Thankfully the staff are well aware and will quickly blip the gate open before you can finish saying "off-peak".