Avanti West Coast has partnered with Family Holiday Charity to offer free family train tickets to vulnerable families, supporting summer holiday breaks at destinations on the West Coast Main Line from London to Glasgow and Edinburgh
Some families will get free train travel(Image: Getty Images)
A rail operator is offering free travel to vulnerable families so they can enjoy a holiday this summer.
Avanti West Coast has revealed it’s teamed up with Family Holiday Charity to enable breaks at destinations along the West Coast Main Line, which runs from London through to Glasgow and Edinburgh via the West Midlands and north-west England.
The getaways will be made available to families facing challenges including financial struggles, bereavement, caring duties, housing insecurity and domestic abuse.
Avanti West Coast customer experience director Kathryn O’Brien said the firm is “really proud” to help families embark on holidays they “may otherwise not have the chance” to experience.
She continued: “We serve many picturesque towns and seaside destinations along the West Coast Main Line that will be the perfect destination for the families to enjoy new experiences and escapism from their day-to-day reality.
“The trips will offer something that many could take for granted – the opportunity to nurture relationships, create memories and reconnect with one another.”
Family Holiday Charity depends on referrals from sources such as social workers and the NHS to identify people it can assist.
Rob Parkinson, chief executive of Family Holiday Charity, said: “While many of the families we support have not been on a holiday before, it will also be the case that some have never travelled together by rail.
“Providing new experiences and opportunities to make enduring memories is central to what we do as a charity, and so we’re very excited to be working with Avanti West Coast on this summer pilot project.”
Avanti West Coast confirmed it will initially assist six families with summer holiday travel, calling the trial a “first for the rail industry”.
Family Holiday Charity’s mission is to help “families’ children who have never seen the sea, for teenagers who can’t remember when they last saw their mum smile. For parents having to choose between a day out and a new pair of school shoes. For young carers, kinship carers, families facing illness isolation and bereavement.”
Its philosophy is that holidays open up new possibilities and provide a time to reconnect, to try new things, and to make happy memories together.
The charity’s website features stories of those it has helped, as well as details on how you can support it.
One family who received help is Tobi’s. The 12-year-old has Takayasu arteritis, a type of vasculitis that causes inflammation in his blood vessels, damaging his large arteries. It’s treatable but not curable. He’s had two major heart surgeries this past year and life has been so hectic. If Tobi has to go to the hospital, all his family have to go.
“We could be there for months at a time, with Lanny commuting from the hospital to his school. At one point, Tobi was going in every three days for blood transfusions and he missed three years of school,” his mum Fathimas said.
Family Holiday Charity paid for Tobi, his siblings and mum to stay at the seaside in Essex.
“We were so happy to hear it was near the sea. We all love the beach and it reminded us of our days in Ghana. We hugged each other as we started making plans. I checked how far Clacton-on-Sea was from London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital by train, just to be sure we could get there quickly if we had to. That helped ease my mind,” Fathimas said.