railcard on phone

can a person in a ticket office refuse to sell me a ticket if i have only got 1% left of battery life and no means to charge my phone up until later than day and they saw my railcard was valid

I'd be surprised if a member of staff refused to do so, however, it would of course be your responsibility to be able to produce said ticket on request and in the event of your phone losing battery when it's needed, you would be treated as not having a valid ticket.

Is this a hypothetical or has it happened. I could understand a clerk being reluctant to put you in a position where you could be open to a penalty fare or worse.

i was told after i said my phone is about to die, i was told my tickets would not be valid if i did not have a railcard to show and i could get a penalty fare, would a photo of the railcard(two together) have counted or was the clerk being helpful by saying i might get a penalty fare and can i claim a refund on my ticket after i have charged my phone up

It’s an observation that I would have made, if you are unable to show your railcard you don’t have a valid ticket.

Photos of railcards don't count, never have done. I'd always be sceptical of someone wanting to claim back after the fact as there's nothing to say that you didn't have it because you'd lent it to someone else.

The clerk was probably doing you a favour. It is not, and never has been, acceptable to validate a Railcard discounted ticket using a picture of a Railcard (whether a picture of a physical card, or a printed out screenshot of a digital one).

You are liable to being required to pay a new undiscounted Anytime (Day) Single, Penalty Fare, or even prosecution under Railway Byelaw 18, if you cannot produce a Railcard to validate a Railcard discounted ticket. If the situation is regularised through either of the former means (new ticket or Penalty Fare), you can obtain a refund of this once per 12 month period, if you later contact the relevant TOC's customer services with evidence of having held a valid Railcard at the time of travel.

Problems with battery life are why I, for one, shy as far away as possible from Digital Railcards and will likely only ever get one when a plastic card is no longer an option.