Virgin Trains Retired staff passes

[Pompeylad]

hi there

Please accept i am not a reg poster

i left Virgin Trains in 2016 and kept my ID card for free traVel through redundancy on that line only.

I haVe found out that our passes will not be transferred unfort too First Trenitalia.

Any adVice, i know a couple TOCs did transfer in past

 

[Surreytraveller]

Usually when franchises transfer between companies, non contractual benefits do not get transferred. I don't know whether that's the case here, but I imagine it is.

 

[Seehof]

I used to have a retired pass for a TOC (Northern) following redundancy but it was no longer valid when the franchise changed. Sorry to inform you of this but I think this is the norm.

 

[dk1]

It's usually been the case that non-safeguarded retired staff lose their free/priv travel once the TOC owner on the day they left service loses the franchise.

 

[tiptoptaff]

hi there

Please accept i am not a reg poster

i left Virgin Trains in 2016 and kept my ID card for free traVel through redundancy on that line only.

I haVe found out that our passes will not be transferred unfort too First Trenitalia.

Any adVice, i know a couple TOCs did transfer in past

Invest in a senior railcard

 

[C J Snarzell]

I don't know if you have a pension with Virgin and this will now be managed by First Trenitalia but if you do then you are still kind of a former member of the rail family and I'd certainly query it with the respective HR, probably after the change over on the 8th December. As a former rail employee on a company pension you will probably have a couple of 'perks' you may be entitled to.

If however, you left the company and there is no pension at all - the pass will more or less 'die' with Virgin as First Trenitalia have no obligation to honour it.

I'm very surprised you are allowed the free travel with an ID card that maybe should have been returned when you left Virgin's employment. When I left the police I had to return my warrant card and any perks that I had while a serving officer basically died after my last day of service - this included discounts serving officers got with the Federation for things like car insurance or shopping at certain high street stores.

C J

 

[221129]

I don't know if you have a pension with Virgin and this will now be managed by First Trenitalia but if you do then you are still kind of a former member of the rail family and I'd certainly query it with the respective HR, probably after the change over on the 8th December. As a former rail employee on a company pension you will probably have a couple of 'perks' you may be entitled to.

If however, you left the company and there is no pension at all - the pass will more or less 'die' with Virgin as First Trenitalia have no obligation to honour it.

I'm very surprised you are allowed the free travel with an ID card that maybe should have been returned when you left Virgin's employment. When I left the police I had to return my warrant card and any perks that I had while a serving officer basically died after my last day of service - this included discounts serving officers got with the Federation for things like car insurance or shopping at certain high street stores.

C J

With all due respect, it might be a good idea to refrain on offering advice if you dont actually have a clue what you're on about. The Railway is not the Police and a lot of TOCs offer retired staff free travel.on their trains only until the end of the franchise. There is no RIGHT to this however.

 

[Surreytraveller]

With all due respect, it might be a good idea to refrain on offering advice if you dont actually have a clue what you're on about. The Railway is not the Police and a lot of TOCs offer retired staff free travel.on their trains only until the end of the franchise. There is no RIGHT to this however.

To add to this, Police Warrant Cards I imagine are governed by law, and powers will lapse when employment does. Obviously contractual benefits are different, and non-contractual benefits are even more flexible

 

[C J Snarzell]

Surreytraveller, yes police warrant cards are governed by law and remain the property of the police force you are/were serving. When I finished at the end of last year, I had to hand my warrant card in and it was signed for by one of the central HR staff (who then destroy it for security reasons).

The federation who are the police union regularly arrange various offers to it's members which includes discounts for certain high street shop purchases, restaurants, gym membership and family attractions but this all comes to an end once you leave the service. However, a cop that completes thirty years and retires still gets certain privileges but not all of them.

During my fifteen years service I hardly ever took advantage of the offers as it meant producing my warrant card when paying for anything and I was totally commmited to not abusing my position whether on duty or off. I saw many idiots in the service abuse privilages with their warrant cards and this invariably ruined some great deals. A prime example was the free or discount brews at McDonald's that were stopped as a result of the halfwits from the Firearms Unit helping themselves to half the menu and refusing to pay!!!

C J