Buying a ticket after arriving

[scottyrail]

Hello all! Hope you are doing well!
I had a commute back from my workplace (Banbury) and got home to Oxford.
The barriers were open from Banbury so I didn’t use my ticket there but when I got back to Oxford I had realised I bought a OXF>BAN ticket.
I panicked and bought a ticket online when I arrived.
The gate guard scanned it and saw that the ticket had only just been bought. He questioned me and warned me that if it happened again, I would be issued with a penalty fare.
My question is, if I bought a ticket, with exactly the same fare as the other tickets, could I be prosecuted or given a fare notice.
Finger crossed there isn’t another time but he had seen my Railcard information so he might have referred it.

 

[JonathanH]

My question is, if I bought a ticket, with exactly the same fare as the other tickets, could I be prosecuted or given a fare notice.

You can't board a train without having first bought a ticket, unless the station has no ticket issuing facility, and you pay the conductor at the first opportunity. Even if the station has no ticket issuing facility, any e-ticket must be bought before boarding.

 

[30907]

You can't board a train without having first bought a ticket, unless the station has no ticket issuing facility, and you pay the conductor at the first opportunity. Even if the station has no ticket issuing facility, any e-ticket must be bought before boarding.

In this case, the apparently OP did a one-way commute but bought the ticket for the wrong direction.

 

[JonathanH]

In this case, the apparently OP did a one-way commute but bought the ticket for the wrong direction.

In that case, they would be better off explaining that they had done that rather than buy a last minute ticket at their destination.

 

[kkong]

It's worth noting that even if barriers are open, you can still (on the Cubic barriers at least) scan your ticket / tap your smartcard and it will be processed as normal.

Doing this would perhaps have highlighted the "wrong direction" ticket on departure.