In Joe wrote:
So, I've a year's LU travelcard and am entitled to get discount on
some overland rail tickets, as well as not having to pay for the
stations within the zone boundary of my travelcard.

This means I can't buy rail tickets from the automatic machines,
because they don't take this into account, so I have to go and see a
proper person to buy my ticket.

At an unmanned rail station with an automatic ticket machine, am I
correct in not buying a ticket and telling the ticket inspector that
the ticket machine was unable to dispense the ticket I wanted?

(And thank you to Connex, whos machine at the rail station I went on
tonight failed to recognise my £10 note anyway, so I couldn't buy a
ticket and thus enjoyed a free trip...)

Just put 5p in the PERTIS (Permit to Travel Machine) if there is one
and tell the staff on train or at station. Most staff just let you
travel with a 5P ticket

IIRC there's a notice gone up on the PERTIS machine at my local Connex
station reminding passengers that we're supposed to put in an amount as
close as possible to the actual fare, with a list of common fares from
that station. To what extent they're policing this I do not know.

Mark