Problem buying tickets from machine at Horsham station

[al78]

This morning I got to Horsham station and there was only one window open and a queue, so decided to get my split tickets from the machine. I got the Horsham to Gatwick segment fine, anytime return given I was traveling in the morning peak. Gatwick to Farringdon was a problem, the machine only offered me an off-peak day return which is not valid at the time I was travelling (I was getting the 7:50 from Horsham and changing to the 8:10 Cambridge train at Three Bridges). I could not see anywhere on the screen an option for revealing other ticket types, so with the queue now gone, I bought that section of the journey from the man at the window. I mentioned to him the issue I had with the machine. Is there anyone else I could report this too and isn't there a risk that someone not familiar with ticketing restrictions would buy whatever the machine displays and get clobbered with a penalty during their journey? It was wierd because the machine displayed two options but they both said "off peak return".

 

[redreni]

There shouldn't be a risk of bing clobbered with a penalty, no, because travelling on a route for which your ticket is valid but falling foul of off-peak or super off-peak time restrictions should be dealt with by charging an excess fare.

It's still worth complaining to the TOC, in my view, where a ticket vending machine fails to offer a reasonable range of tickets.