Off peak rail ticket to London?

I assume you are travelling on a Saturday or Sunday when there are no time restrictions. If in doubt telephone Virgin Trains 08719 774222 Virgin's rules on railcards are particularly complex. They give me an off peak ticket with Senior Railcard discount before 09-30am from London on long distance services. A nice gesture but they don't publicise it much

Yes, the ticket is valid. On Virgin Trains services (Lancaster to London is a Virgin Trains route) you can buy an off-peak ticket for trains at peak times if you have a railcard (like the 16-25 railcard you have). This is great value - you get to travel on an off-peak ticket (when everyone else on the train will be using either "Anytime" or "Advance" tickets) AND you get 34% reduction on the cost of the off-peak ticket because you're using a railcard. This arrangement only applies on direct Virgin Trains services, such as from London to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Chester, Preston and Glasgow. It doesn't apply on other train operators, or if you have to change onto a local service after the main Virgin Trains leg (e.g. London to Blackpool, where the journey from Preston to Blackpool is on Northern). Incidentally, if you buy in advance of travel online (e.g. from MyTrainTicket.co.uk), you can often get even cheaper Advance tickets - these do restrict you to travelling on a specific train though.

Sounds a bit odd but take ALL documents with you for proof. If they made the error and insist you pay, complain to the rail users consultative committee.

If your seat reservation has the correct time on it then yes it will be the right train