The thing is Merseyrail make up a lot of rules as they go along and will quite happily issue PFs or their Fixed Penalty /on the spot out of court settlement type things regardless of bylaws or regulations.
I seem to remember a case fairly recently on this forum where they dragged somebody to court despite making numerous errors and eventually dropped the case - but I can't remember details. I'll have a dig and see if I can find the thread.
The rule they've invented where if the ticket office is closed you should take a picture as proof being a good example. I have witnessed somebody onboard issued a PF because the office was closed and when asked for a photo they didn't have one. It used to be the norm they'd phone the office and see if it was infact closed.
A friend of mine a while ago got a penalty fare for boarding a train at Overpool (unstaffed with one of their poor limited functionality TVMs) wanting to buy a Merseytravel All Zone saveaway ticket which the TVM doesn't sell despite being valid, so he boarded the train to buy it at Hamilton Square when he changed for a bus. He got a penalty fare onboard, appealed it quoting the bylaws and won. Merseyrail stated that he should have bought a ticket to Hamilton Square from the TVM, took it to the office, had it refunded, then bought the saveaway.
On another note I find Merseyrails in house revenue protection to be OK usually - still heavy handed and not much compassion - but its the minimal trained Carlisle rent-a-thugs that only seem to know what a daysaver and single is, and anything else gets a PF regardless of validity.
The issue with ToDs not being collected and people being Penalty fared is getting out of hand. The current generation of teens live by their phones, I'm a guard on TFW and I see plenty of young teens buy on an app regardless of how short their journey is. If you browse through Merseyrails X/Twitter feed its a very dull situation seeing a fair few posts from parents where kids have bought a ticket online then been PFd for not collecting. There are so many kids who have no intention of paying and will joy ride all day. Yet to penalise the good ones who have paid without realising the daft collection rule is just harsh. Explain by all means, but you can easily judge who clearly has no clue, and who's trying it on, apply some discretion.
Can Merseyrail RPIs print ToDs? I presume not? Surely it's better to educate rather than throw £100 penalties at people who assume buying a ticket online gives them a ticket. Using teens as an example again. 2 kids meeting in Liverpool. One lives in Northern land, one lives in Merseyrail land. The Northern kid buys online, issued a mobile ticket, job done. Kid 2 says great i'll try that too! But they're using Merseyrail.
I always advise passengers when I'm issuing ToDs onboard my trains to ensure they collect them at Chester before travelling on Merseyrail if the conductor doesn't come through in future, always quite shocked. A lot of them are also quite panicked that they've opened their app and found a code. I just explain Merseyrail are stuck in 1970.
As mobile ticketing continues to grow, this is only going to become a bigger problem. Merseyrail making up their own rules regarding validity of perfectly valid mobile tickets is even worse!!