Preston - Bournemouth return

[LeylandLen]

I intend to travel from Preston to Bmouth this Sat via Euston /Waterloo. I see off-peak
fare with senior railcard is £91.10
Then I want to return, leaving Bmouth on Mon 12th, staying over in London for a meeting and then Euston to Preston on Tues 13th . Is my off-peak ticket valid for this trip or do I have to buy two separate returns, ie Preston - Euston and Waterloo - Bournemouth , which as I see it comes to
£99.95 (£61.05 + £38.90) I know there are cheaper advance fares, but I need flexibility , and the diff on off-peak fares is £8.85, im just curious.
Basically, I am asking if an off-peak return is valid with BOJ where the return covers two days . I am allowed a BOJ if the return can not be made in one day, obviously mine can, presume I need two tickets ?

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

The general rule about BoJ is that it is always* permitted on Anytime tickets, permitted by default (but not always) on Off-Peak tickets, and never permitted on Advance tickets. If there is a restriction on BoJ then this must be explained to you at the point of sale or on the ticket, for example by means of an explanatory text or through the two-letter alphanumeric restriction code describing the times when the Off-Peak ticket is/is not valid (next to 'Validity: As Advertised').

For example, the Preston to Bournemouth, route '✠VIA LONDON', Off-Peak Return has a restriction code of 2C. You can look this up at www.nationalrail.co.uk/2C or at the BR Fares link above. Whilst this heavily restricts the week-day trains you can take, there is no BoJ restriction.

So for this reason - you can BoJ as many times as you like on the route. Just for information, BoJ is always permitted on the return leg of an Off-Peak Return, so it is only the outbound where there could be a restriction anyway.

There are plenty of other ways of saving money on your route (assuming you can accept some restriction on the stations you do/don't call at, or on the apparent 'legitimacy' of the ticket/route), whilst maintaining a flexible ticket. If you would like to know of these, I am sure there will be a more experienced member here soon with some advice.

*There are some Anytime tickets masquerading as having BoJ restrictions. These are practically and legally unenforceable IMO.

 

[Hadders]

What you want to do is absolutely fine.

The journey from Bournemouth to Waterloo can be done at anytime under the Network Area Rule but you must make sure that the journey from Euston to Preston complies with the time restrictions attached to the ticket (I.e you can’t depart Euston before 0926 or between 1500 and 1845 on weekdays.

 

[LeylandLen]

I eventually went direct Preston to Bournemouth on the Sat changing from Virgin to Cross Country ( XC )at Wolverhampton , back on the Monday changing between the 2 TOCs at Coventry. I must admit I DO NOT like what can happen on XC. You can chose an 'available' seat only to find someone has reserved it whilst the train is on its journey. I saw it happen to few passengers who had to vacate their seats. Fortunately I was untroubled on both my XC trips. It would put me off using XC, so would prefer to o via London even with a higher fare .