South Western Railway has announced it is to honour the armed forces community by offering free travel for serving troops, veterans and cadets on Sunday 11th November.
Personnel will be able to travel on any South Western Railway service for free, allowing travel to local Remembrance Day events and the Cenotaph in London for the main national commemoration.
They just need to be in uniform or able to show an identification card with their branch of the military stated.
Many of the train operator's staff, including guards, signallers and drivers, are ex-members of the armed forces.
What did the officials say?
Alan Penlington, Customer Experience Director for South Western Railway, said:
“Remembrance Day is a solemn occasion where we remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice to help keep us safe. This year will be especially poignant as we reflect on the centenary of the end of the First World War.
“We support the Royal British Legion as a significant number of our team come from a service background and are pleased to honour the armed forces with this offer of free travel. We want to make it as easy as possible for people to attend local, regional and national events on this important day.”
The Royal British Legion's Head of Remembrance, Catherine Davies, said:
“As we mark the end of the First World War centenary in this historic year, we are calling on the nation to say ‘Thank You' to the First World War generation, not only the British Armed Forces, but those who fought alongside them from today's Commonwealth, the countless men, women and children who played their part of the home front and the pioneers and artists who have left long lasting legacies.
“The Royal British Legion is grateful to South Western Railway for giving Armed Forces personnel free travel on 11 November and helping them to pay their own respects to the First World War generation and others who have given so much to enable us to enjoy the freedoms we have today.”
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Why wasn’t this FREE Travel offer given wider publicity?
I (and Mick) traveled from Salisbury to London on Remembrance Day to march at the Cenotaph.
This was our 4th time of being on parade, as we both served in the Royal Navy for over 20 years!
The first we heard about this FREE offer, was on the train speaker system, as we pulled in to Waterloo Station. We had purchased our return train tickets in August through TrainLine. Having just spend nearly an hour on the phone to TrainLine, they are refusing to give us a refund on our two return tickets! Even though I offered to scan our Admission Passes to get on to Horse Guards Parade. There are always 10,000 ex-service men and women on parade, and a high majority of them, would have used the train to get there! And yet, nobody had heard of your offer! So the HeadLine (above) is great PR for you, but because of the limited coverage – it is in fact – a FALSE PROMISE. And will be an insult to the many serving/ex-service personnel who actually bought train tickets. I look forward to your reply.
Regards. Chris Lawrence
Still South Western Railway are a disgrace when they are planning to strike just before Christmas.