I'm not saying that this necessarily applies on this particular occasion, but a customer could legitimately not know they needed to go on past their season ticket boundary at the start. If I have a season from A-G, I might stop off at any point in between, then perhaps receive a call or text asking me to meet someone at J.
I believe it is reasonable for someone to attempt to buy an extension ticket at any intermediate station because of this.
I don't know what exact length of time should be considered 'reasonable' to queue in these circumstances, but I would say that having already waited for 10 minutes, and seen staff numbers reduce with the closure of a window, the OP had a choice of whether to miss their train (and alter their arrangements), or try and buy the ticket elsewhere.
This is another example of how the PF system is loaded in favour of the TOC's, and against the honest customer. TVM's cannot issue the sort of tickets the OP needed, many passengers prefer to deal with a human being, yet TOC's reduce ticket office hours and staffing levels anyway. Why shouldn't they when frustrated customers give up waiting, thus causing a penalty fare to be issued, which means far more revenue for the TOC.
I believe it is reasonable for someone to attempt to buy an extension ticket at any intermediate station because of this.
I don't know what exact length of time should be considered 'reasonable' to queue in these circumstances, but I would say that having already waited for 10 minutes, and seen staff numbers reduce with the closure of a window, the OP had a choice of whether to miss their train (and alter their arrangements), or try and buy the ticket elsewhere.
This is another example of how the PF system is loaded in favour of the TOC's, and against the honest customer. TVM's cannot issue the sort of tickets the OP needed, many passengers prefer to deal with a human being, yet TOC's reduce ticket office hours and staffing levels anyway. Why shouldn't they when frustrated customers give up waiting, thus causing a penalty fare to be issued, which means far more revenue for the TOC.