Using return ticket across these two trains

[Enjoy12481632]

Hi,

I usually buy a ticket to get from Bedford to zone 1, which buys me a return ticket from Bedford to London Underground Zone 1-2. This is generally on weekdays, and sometimes peak, sometimes off peak.

Additionally, I use a railcard.

On the return journey to Bedford, I ended up at Bond street (had to use oyster to get there from where I work).

After this, I went from Bond Street to Farringdon via the Elizabeth line, then swapped to a train to get to St Pancras Itl using this return ticket. There are no barriers between Farringdon and the Elizabeth line but it is a zone 1 journey to get to St Pancras.

At St Pancras, the ticket said to seek assistance. Does this mean that this not allowed or was it pure randomness?

Just a note I then used this to get to Bedford successfully by explaining to the guard but still a frustration.

 

[Hadders]

Where exactly did your ticket get rejected by the barrier? I’m assuming as you exited from St Pancras Thameslink platforms (did you then get an EMR train to Bedford from ‘upstairs’?

The ticket barriers are not intelligent and cannot be relied upon to definitively show whether or not a ticket is valid. For example, at my local station (Stevenage) the barriers are set to always reject railcard discounted tickets so that a manual inspection can take place. Same for Advance tickets. The magstripe on the ticket might also have become corrupted.