Accidentally using my return ticket in wrong order

[Haywain]

Usually in law, there is only guilt where there is a dishonest intent.

That's nonsense, there are plenty of offences where intent does not need to be proved.

 

[AlterEgo]

That sums it up. Why does the railway have this privileged position? Usually in law, there is only guilt where there is a dishonest intent.

There are very many strict liability offences, such as speeding, driving without insurance, selling unfit meat, possessing a firearm without a licence, etc, etc, so many offences.

I tend to agree the railway often uses these laws in an unjust way but I have yet to see someone prosecuted for using a return ticket in the wrong order.

 

[30907]

I tend to agree the railway often uses these laws in an unjust way but I have yet to see someone prosecuted for using a return ticket in the wrong order.

Indeed, most of this thread is discussing something that didn't happen.
The OP mistakenly bought the wrong ticket and therefore had difficulty with a gate, but wasn't excessed, PFed, or reported for prosecution.

Indeed, unless they had tried to travel on a day or at a time when the ticket wasn't valid, IMO it's unlikely that a RPO would have noticed the error as the OP states that the outward half was still active at the end of the day.

 

[SouthStand]

This is why I get a bit fed up. No reasonable person minds a dishonest traveller getting penalised; indeed it is annoying when they do get away with it. However, I hate a system where penalties, and harsh ones, are applied to someone who made a genuine mistake. You get the feeling that 'they' are looking to catch you out, and you have to be ultra careful to have the right ticket. There is a certain viciousness about it.

Correct. As the "Birmingham" example demonstrates all too clearly.