There isn't such a ticket in other areas either.
If I want to go to Manchester and return the next day I have to pay almost double what I need to pay for an off-peak day return.
Edinburgh to Glasgow only has Day Returns. Completely ridiculous. Last time Scotrail were challenged on this in Meet the Managers they claimed they only offered either Day Returns or Period Returns for simplicity. Although this argument doesn't really hold for me, it's blatantly false. Many Scotrail journeys have both, for example Edinburgh to Leuchars. Obviously, the result is people spend more than they should have to.
Yes, it's not only London and the SE. I hear a lot of complaints from people who have to buy two singles to get to Swansea and come back the next day.
They were certainly for journeys across the NSE area only, I can't recall what the shortest distance was, but 30 miles sounds about right.
ISTR if there was a Network Stayaway fare (which became a saver return well before simplification) there was an Network Awaybreak fare aswell.
I think you are right, my recolelctions are the same!
But if there are barriers then they should eat the return ticket anyway, at least for straightforward journeys
Even if there ar ebarriers then judging by this forum there seems to be quite a few people who will retain their tickets for expenses by asking to be let through on showing their ticket.
Not that anyone would do such a thing of course, but it does seem logical to assume that those who might try and exploit this would have no problem with also asking to be let through the manual gate.
We simply can't rely on the existence of barriers to stop people using tickets more than pnce.
Also, is it just me or is everyone missing the point? It seems to me that the OP wants a ticket for a situation I often have, where I want to visit somewhere and stay overnight. I want to be able to return the next day for 10p more.. if the return was valid for the next day only, this would have even less potential for abuse than a day return (with a day return you can go back and forth several times until someone stamps your ticket)
There might be some merit in this idea, but I doubt the TOC's would price it at 10p more than a day return. I would guess it would be halfway between a day return and two singles!