On May 24, 2:51*pm, Stephen Furley wrote:

What happens if there are two station, one of which has a machine
which is designed to take only cards

Then it is in full working order if it only accepts cards, although
it's not clear that such machines exist. Cranks who don't carry debit
cards are an increasingly irrelevant portion of society and, rather
like people who complain about processes which require a mobile phone,
there comes a point where it is unreasonable for the rest of us to
subsidise them. Collecting money from coin-operated machines is
savagely expensive, and makes the machines targets for theft.

The son of somebody I know was challenged on a train for not having a
Travelcard. *He replied that there was no facility to buy one at the
station where he boarded and was then told that there were newsagents
etc. not far from the station, and he should have gone there to buy
one before boarding the train.

It's unlikely that RPIs know the law any more than policemen do (cf.
the endless photography debate). Section 2 of the Conditions of
Carriage makes it absolutely clear that the only places you have to
buy a ticket from, if possible, are an open ticket office or a TVM.
You don't have to go and look elsewhere. However, if you boarded a
train without a ticket, made no effort to find the conductor, and got
gripped some time later, then fairly obvious inferences can be drawn
about your intent to pay.

ian