Validity of London Terminals to Derby Ticket

[jrh2254]

I bought a single ticket for £95 which I thought had no restrictions as it was any permitted route. I wanted to give myself the flexibility of travelling either via London Euston (Virgin and XC) or London St Pancras (East Midlands). I eventually decided to catch the 16.57 from Euston, change at Tamworth and have a break of journey at Burton.
When I got to Euston, as usual they were checking tickets before you enter the platform. The first ticket inspector was confused (SAYING ARE WE ACCEPTING EAST MIDLANDS TRAINS?) and had to ask one of his colleagues if the ticket was valid for Virgin trains. Eventually they said yes, but why was there any confusion at all?
NB. I also hold a season Derby to Bristol Templemeads so technically I had 2 tickets valid for the same journey between Tamworth and Derby!
Thanks.

 

[IanM]

Derby to London Terminals is valid via Tamworth to Euston (but not via Birmingham,which frequently causes confusion at Euston). Going up in a morning, the 0610 with a change at Tamworth gets to London ahead of the 0604 to StP, and indeed is offered by NRES in preference to the 0604 unless one specifies through trains. Virgin West Coast's on board crews are quite accustomed to seeing Derby tickets from Tamworth.
In the evening, the EMT service is quicker, so there are fewer northbound users, and the gateline staff are therefore less used to seeing Derby tickets.

 

[jrh2254]

Thanks for the reply. I wanted a stop over at Burton so going via Tamworth was about 30 mins quicker. Also going St Pancras to Derby I would have had to have used my season ticket from Derby to Bristol for the short distance to Burton.