And did that cause you to miss your connection? If not, it seems entirely reasonable that they checked that you hadn't "forgotten" which station you'd started your journey at, as so many people are wont to do.
It very nearly did as a matter of fact, after queuing up for a ticket for serveral minutes I only just made it onto the train.
What got me was these staff were
standing right next to the man who issued my ticket. They must have heard every word and decided to be obnoxious, or simply weren't paying attention.
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Whenever I've asked for a zero excess on the Northern west side from guards they've allowed me to continue travelling without having a zero ticket and without any trouble. Luckily I've never been travelling to a station with barriers or rpi's.
A guard on the Hope Valley line did exactly the same for me, although it was on the last train of the night so no danger of getting into trouble.
