I dont think this is true, but suppose it was - so what? If I am travelling eith my daughter I often need advice from the ticket office folks. It does not matyer how they aquire it.

Additionally, often the ticket office gives better rates -

https://twitter.com/CraigJordanBak1/status/16786743395735101...

The fact that you dont know this, betrays the fact that you havw no idea how the UK ticket prices are actually set