GWR and Southeastern to offer free rail travel to domestic abuse victims

[Silver Cobra]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-51751582

Women fleeing an abusive relationship are to be given free train travel under a new scheme.

Victims across the south of England, West Midlands and south Wales are the first to benefit from the "Rail to Refuge" initiative, after Southeastern and Great Western Railway signed up.

Domestic abuse victim Amanda, whose name has been changed, said it was a "lifeline" for women in need.

"It's empowering, and I hope other rail operators get on board," she said.

The scheme was the brainchild of Southeastern station manager Darren O'Brien, who said even though "it is a only a small thing", it could "make an enormous difference" to women in dire circumstances.

Abuse victims can contact the charity Women's Aid, or a domestic abuse helpline or local outreach service, and if necessary a refuge space will be found and the train ticket obtained on the woman's behalf.

It's great to see the rail industry doing what they can to help those suffering from domestic abuse. It'll be interesting to see how many more operators join this scheme. As GWR are already part of this, I imagine that other First Group operators will join as well.

 

[RealTrains07]

How likely is it for long distance operators such as Avanti and LNER to join the scheme?

 

[Sprinter107]

Brilliant. What a great idea. Be nice if the other operators joined the scheme, and it became nationwide.

 

[175mph]

Will they offer this scheme to men who are victims of domestic violence too?

 

[Islineclear3_1]

Good in principle but how far can the abused travel in order to get away. What would be considered reasonable?

 

[Trainfan344]

Good in principle but how far can the abused travel in order to get away. What would be considered reasonable?

Reading the quote provided. It will be a case of contacting outreach centres or helplines who will find a suitable refuge space and provide a free ticket to that location

 

[swt_passenger]

Brilliant. What a great idea. Be nice if the other operators joined the scheme, and it became nationwide.

Without criticising the idea itself, its rather odd that the article says “across the south” without most of the London area TOCs being mentioned, and then “West Midlands” without any relevant operator at all?

 

[Skymonster]

Will they offer this scheme to men who are victims of domestic violence too?

Absolutely agree... Unless it applies to ALL victims it’s just discriminative politically correct pandering to minorities. I hope it’s outlawed until it does apply to all.

 

[43066]

Will they offer this scheme to men who are victims of domestic violence too?

Absolutely agree... Unless it applies to ALL victims it’s just discriminative politically correct pandering to minorities. I hope it’s outlawed until it does apply to all.

Fully agree with the above!

 

[NorthOxonian]

Without criticising the idea itself, its rather odd that the article says “across the south” without most of the London area TOCs being mentioned, and then “West Midlands” without any relevant operator at all?

At a stretch, they might have just looked at where GWR operate, noticed the services up to Hereford and Worcester, and described that as the West Midlands. They neglected to mention that the GWR service is irrelevant for about 90% of West Midlands residents.

 

[swt_passenger]

At a stretch, they might have just looked at where GWR operate, noticed the services up to Hereford and Worcester, and described that as the West Midlands. They neglected to mention that the GWR service is irrelevant for about 90% of West Midlands residents.

You’re probably right; and if the journalist happened to think Southeastern operate in the wider “southeast”...

 

[FGW_DID]

Will they offer this scheme to men who are victims of domestic violence too?

Absolutely agree... Unless it applies to ALL victims it’s just discriminative politically correct pandering to minorities. I hope it’s outlawed until it does apply to all.

Fully agree with the above!

Yes, the service is available to men as well. Although given that all the publicity shots etc doesn't specifically mention this, you would be forgiven for thinking that it isn't! It has been mentioned on social media and on internal comms channels.
Perhaps all the publicity should have been labelled "for all victims of Domestic Violence"!!

 

[43066]

Yes, the service is available to men as well. Although given that all the publicity shots etc doesn't specifically mention this, you would be forgiven for thinking that it isn't! It has been mentioned on social media and on internal comms channels.
Perhaps all the publicity should have been labelled "for all victims of Domestic Violence"!!

Very glad to hear that, in which case I’m fully supportive.

Admittedly I had only read the BBC article in the OP which makes a point of referring to women specifically.

 

[Pshambro]

Yes, the service is available to men as well. Although given that all the publicity shots etc doesn't specifically mention this, you would be forgiven for thinking that it isn't! It has been mentioned on social media and on internal comms channels.
Perhaps all the publicity should have been labelled "for all victims of Domestic Violence"!!

That’s good news. Anyone can be a victim of this type of abuse. I do think it’s everyday sexism that the media and society in general (in some cases) tend to overlook men as victims.

 

[bb21]

Absolutely agree... Unless it applies to ALL victims it’s just discriminative politically correct pandering to minorities. I hope it’s outlawed until it does apply to all.

I'm sorry. Hoping for such a useful service to the vulnerable in society to be outlawed rather than putting in the effort to campaign for it to be applicable to a wider population is spiteful and mean-spirited imo. A scheme may not have been perfect, in which case do something positive about it rather than adopt a "I can't have it therefore no one can" attitude.

Thankfully in this case it is indeed applicable to the male population, so it won't receive the condemnation it doesn't deserve in the first place.

I hope the perpetrators are billed for the full cost of these services.

 

[Grecian 1998]

The geographic description is a bit vague and obviously doesn't apply to all areas, but short of creating a map and explaining you can travel on services on specified routes but only with those operators, there's no real way of giving a better description.

I suspect it may be rolled out by other TOCs soon; apart from anything else, I doubt SWR, Southern, TfW and other companies whose operations overlap with GWR and SE would want to be known for telling domestic violence victims they're on the wrong train and now need to pay for a ticket. Not great publicity. Granted the victims themselves might not want publicity, but others might highlight it.

 

[theironroad]

Will they offer this scheme to men who are victims of domestic violence too?

I'd absolutely expect it to and sure it will, but certainly the BBC article cited leaves a lot to be desired in making that clear.

 

[Sprinter107]

Theres a refuge for the victims of domestic abuse along one of the routes I work, and we get those victims on our trains, and many of our guards dont charge them anyway, and if they did, I'd pay their fare for them out of my own pocket if necessary. Theyve had enough to put up with as it is.

 

[FGW_DID]

The geographic description is a bit vague and obviously doesn't apply to all areas, but short of creating a map and explaining you can travel on services on specified routes but only with those operators, there's no real way of giving a better description.

I suspect it may be rolled out by other TOCs soon; apart from anything else, I doubt SWR, Southern, TfW and other companies whose operations overlap with GWR and SE would want to be known for telling domestic violence victims they're on the wrong train and now need to pay for a ticket. Not great publicity. Granted the victims themselves might not want publicity, but others might highlight it.

That’s not how it works, people just can’t rock up at a Station and travel free. The tickets are sourced via the relevant support group after a referral.