The railway believed that short distance period returns could easily be used repeatedly until randomly checked onboard, so they are generally not available for journeys less than around 35-40 miles. It’s definitely not a recent decision, I’m sure it goes back to BR days.
I suppose that sort of makes sense, though people would still have to make their way to the 'return' starting station to repeat it, and given the price of singles nowadays that's largely a pointless exercise. With the proliferation of barriers too that 'exhaust' tickets that should also resolve that issue. I suppose it's something to be added to the long, long list of antiquated practices the rail industry clings on to for no good reason.
Do Northern not cover the route, too? I would imagine that you would be allowed to use the ticket without issue on the other days as the service is still affected.
You can purchase a ticket for the journey from any accredited seller, and it's route "Any Permitted" rather than being restricted to TfW, so would be valid on Northern services between Warrington and Manchester, too. I doubt you would have any issues from doing this, to be honest. If in doubt, buy for the 12th and use it on Northern on the 13th.
Northern do cover it however there's no Northern tickets to purchase at the moment, presumably they've all been cleared following the announcement of the strike action. The only tickets left are those which are 'TfW ONLY', hence I think the ticket is not sold from a "TOC on strike" and so would not qualify.
If the situation arises in future when there aren't any ticket easements in place, a Chester to Manchester Northern only Anytime Short Return is £18.10 and valid for break of journey plus a month to make your return journey.
You may find cheaper options by playing around with station pairs, to either start "earlier" or finish your journey "later" - as long as the ticket allows BoJ it's perfectly legitimate.
Yes I think I get that, and would be an option if the Northern only tickets were still available. However I thought 'short faring' (i.e. getting off before your destination station) was not allowed? I think back to the journey of WBQ to Preston being more expensive than WBQ to Lancaster, despite it being a shorter distance. As I recall the TOCs knew this and said you could be penalised if you used this trick (i.e. bought a ticket from WBQ to Lancaster, only intending to travel to Preston).
The same issue applied when I wanted a return the following day , travelling Malvern Link to Hereford. Ticket office sold me a Worcester Foregate to Hereford return instead of two singles at just over half the price . I just started & finished short.
I'm not going to spend too much time searching and so might just ask at the desk (it's not one of those closed yet, lucky me), but I just feel it's ridiculous I have to pay £8 extra for the 'luxury' of wanting to return back the next day rather than the same day.
