Anytime Single vs Off Peak Day Return...

[1B85]

I purchased an Off Peak Day Single ticket from A to B, traveling about 10:00, intending to return about 18:30. I checked before purchase and the off peak fare offered was valid on both the planned outward and return journeys. The price was £13.40

Whilst checking the schedule and punctuality of my return journey from B to A, the journey planner also showed me the cheapest priced ticket was an Anytime Day single at £14, as I was travelling during the evening peak.

If I was travelling B to A as a standalone route, could I have purchased an Off Peak Day Return ticket from A to B and just used the return portion?

 

[plugwash]

I'm pretty sure that unlike airlines the british railways don't have any rules against "throwaway ticketing". Even if they did have such rules they would have no way to enforce them given that most routes have no reliable ticket checks. You are required to use the outbound portion before the return portion though if you use both.

The planner won't offer you throwaway tickets (or over-distance tickets) though, even if they make sense for your journey.

It's quite common for different offpeak tickets (single vs day return vs period return and sometimes A to B vs B to A) on the same route to have different peak restrictions. If you want us to look at the tickets and restrictions for your particular journey we would have to know what A and B were.

 

[Hadders]

There is generally nothing to stop you throwing away the outward portion of a ticket and just using the return portion. Bear in mind that once you start to use the return portion the outward portion ceases to have any validity (i.e. you can't use the outward after the return. I know that isn't what you are proposing to do but I've mentioned it for clarity)

To advise properly we really need to know where A and B are.