Where is this stipulated? I can't see this requirement anywhere in the NRCoT. If you board at a station without ticket-issuing facilities, then you are required to purchase a ticket at the first opportunity, but it doesn't appear to stipulate anything about having to physically obtain it.
You've been a bit selective with what you've quoted there so let me try and be a bit clearer.
If you purchase a ticket via an online system then you must be in possession of it before you commence your journey. What you cannot do is travel using the booking reference number and collect your ticket en-route unless the TVM at your origin station is out of order meaning that you are unable to collect your ticket.
Not every station has a TVM which is why you have to select the station you wish to collect your ticket from during the purchase process. You are only able to select stations with ticket collecting facilities.
I am not convinced that the position is that clear. The guard was clearly not happy to let me travel all the way to New Street without a ticket (and I was also concerned what position I might be in if I refused to buy a ticket and was then caught travelling without a ticket in the Penalty Fare Zone), and TfW are clearly regarding the 10-15 minute station stop at Mach as reasonable opportunity to get off, buy a ticket, and get back on again. It will be interesting to see how Llanigraham gets on: will they insist that he gets off at Shrewsbury to buy his ticket?
Section 6 of the NRCoT covers this.
6.1. You must have a valid Ticket to travel before you board a train where there was the opportunity to buy one unless one of the following circumstances applies:
6.1.1. At the station where you start your journey, there is no means of purchasing a Ticket, either because there is no Ticket office open or self-service Ticket machine in working order; and where notices indicate that you are in a Penalty Fares area you purchase a Permit to Travel if there is a working Permit to Travel issuing machine at the station where you start your journey – see Condition 10 for more information about Penalty Fares; or
6.1.2. Where you are specifically permitted to board a train service by an authorised member of staff or notice of the Train Company whose service you intend to board; or
6.1.3. You have a disability and Ticket purchasing arrangements at the station you are departing from are not suitably accessible.
In these cases, you must, as soon as you are reasonably able, buy an appropriate Ticket to complete your journey. The price of the Ticket you purchase will be the same as if you had bought a Ticket at the station from which you first departed.
Although not forming part of the NRCoT the 'information box' included under this condition is intended to clarify the position.
INFORMATION: This means that you should buy a ticket from the conductor on the train if there is one available; at an interchange station provided there is sufficient time before your connecting service; or, if neither of these is possible, at your destination.
There is no guidance as to what constitutes sufficient time to purchase a ticket en-route. That said you are not required to delay your journey if the railway is unable to issue the ticket you require, using your chosen payment method. A useful guide would be to consider the station interchange time which at Machynlleth is 4 minutes. If you had 15 minutes at Machynlleth then in theory you have an additional 11 minutes in which you could purchase a ticket which in most cases would be sufficient. Having said that consideration also needs to be made for passengers who might be vulnerable or infirm and not necessarily able to get to purchase the tickets in the time available.
It might be worth contacting TfW asking what you should do if faced with this issue in future, it would be interesting to know their response.
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