Peak, Off-Peak or both?

[whole diary]

[EBrown]

Morning all,

I've just been slightly confused by a rail fare from Canterbury West (CBW) to RDG^▸ (Rail Delivery Group, or Reading station, depending on context).

The 0925 (SER HS^▸ (High Speed (short for HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) High Speed Services)) & FGW^▸ (First Great Western)) service from CBW to RDG is Off-Peak if bought as a single or day return ticket
The 0925 (SER HS & FGW) service from CBW to RDG 'open' return is a peak ticket.

Can someone explain this to me please? Is this 'standard' behaviour?

[readytostart]

The return is showing as a ^39.00 off peak day return for that service when I checked.

The CDS^▸ (Off Peak Day Single [ticket type] (formerly 'Cheap Day')) and CDR^▸ (Off Peak Day Return [ticket type] (formerly 'Cheap Day')) are restriction code C4: Outward by any train timed to arrive at a London Terminal or Kensington Olympia at or after 1000. Return by any train.
The SVR has restriction code 4A: Outward and Return by any train except those timed to depart before 0930 (along with a list of afternoon peak departures from PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)).

Above restrictions are Mon-Fri only.

As with many fares in the old NSE^▸ (Network South East) area, there is no SOR option available, therefore you would need to buy two CDSs (or a CDS and an SDS if your return train into PAD arrived before 1000).

[EBrown]

The return is showing as a ^39.00 off peak day return for that service when I checked.

Sorry, perhaps I wasn't clear. I was referring to an 'open' return (within one month). I've edited my original question to reflect this.

Edit:
Thanks for your help. That resolves the issue.

[readytostart]

I had an inkling that was the case and was in the process of editing my original post!

[EBrown]

I had an inkling that was the case and was in the process of editing my original post!

Seen, thanks for your help.

[ECML]

Sorry, perhaps I wasn't clear. I was referring to an 'open' return (within one month). I've edited my original question to reflect this.

People are quite rightly confused, and it's not your fault, because the Rail industry used to use the term "Open" (yes, with a capital O!) to be a product of a ticket that had validity (on both portions) for one month, and was also valid on any train. However Thetrainline confused things by using the term "open" (note the lower case o!) to refer to a ticket that was not restricted to a particular train (but, in fact, may only have a validity of one day and may have restrictions - a far cry from an Open Return ticket!), and this terminology was then used by other booking websites.

Then we got "Simplification", where the Open Return became Anytime Return. No longer was the outward portion valid for a whole month (it was initially a day or two, then extended to 5 days) although the return portion remains valid for one month.

Now it is difficult to know what the term "open" means; does it mean any ticket that is not an Advance, including Day returns? Or does it mean a ticket that is valid on any train where the return portion is valid for a month (in some cases an Off Peak Return would count) Or does it mean something else? There is no common consensus as far as I can determine.

Therefore, my personal recommendation is to avoid using the term where possible. The rail industry has confused us all!