Serving soldiers and veterans travel for free for Remembrance events

South Western Railway (SWR) is offering free travel on all its services to serving military personnel and veterans attending Remembrance Sunday events.

The offer – which is funded by the Department for Transport – is available to anyone who is travelling in uniform or who is able to show an appropriate form of identification.

On Thursday, volunteers collecting for the Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal will get free travel to and from the capital to attend London Poppy Day events.

Anyone with a Royal British Legion collector’s ID will be able to travel for free on SWR services to Waterloo on Wednesday or Thursday and for their return trips on Thursday or Friday.

The offer also includes travel to Waterloo for the National Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph on November 9 and 10, as well as travel to and from the Submariners’ Remembrance Service on November 2 and 3.

Peter Williams, customer and commercial director for SWR, said: “Remembrance Sunday is an important opportunity for people across the country to reflect on the sacrifices made by generations of service personnel.

“Alongside the rest of the railway industry, we are pleased to honour this sacrifice by offering free travel to active personnel and veterans attending Remembrance Sunday and London Poppy Day events.

“This initiative is especially meaningful to us, as many of our SWR colleagues have a proud background in the armed forces.”

There will be engineering works taking place at various locations on the SWR network in South West London, Surrey, and Hampshire on November 3 and 10.

Customers planning to travel on these days should check journey planners carefully before travelling. Other operators will also be affected, so journeys should be checked using National Rail Enquiries here.

Pictured top: Grenadier Guards collecting at Waterloo on London Poppy Day (Picture: SWR)