I should have made that clearer perhaps, but I'm starting off from LGW having been in the hotel the day before (following a night HER). It is the general principle I'm interested in, this is just one example.
The company rules are that you have to be within 90 mins travelling time to your base, and obviously I'm less than that (my choice) but plenty of people live that far away. I don't see how that "screws" anyone though if the duties are rostered correctly? I wouldn't argue that anyone should drive themselves home, regardless of the distance, if they feel too tired.
In this case I think it would be reasonable to disallow crews from claiming hotac cancellation allowances (£24.25 in our case!) even if they elect to go straight home. That would at least absolve the company of blame if they subsequently had an accident.
What I'm really after is information on what other companies do in this situation. How would your company roster this? Hotac and taxi later, or taxi straight back after the flight?