SHAME OF VJ DAY RAIL CHIEFS
Fares cynically ramped up for a day ‘to cash in’ on old heroes travelling to the capital
A TRAIN firm has been accused of cashing in on VJ commemorations by suspending a cheap ticket offer for the day that veterans were travelling to London.
South West Trains is running a summer promotion, offering passengers return tickets to London for £20 during August.
But the offer was withdrawn for one day on Saturday – the 70th anniversary of VJ Day – meaning veterans and patriots travelling to the capital to mark the end of the war with Japan had to pay full price.
The company, part of the Stagecoach Group, said it was for safety reasons, but veterans criticised the move. Hundreds of former servicemen travelled to the capital for a parade and church service on Saturday.
And thousands of supporters lined the streets to pay their respects to those killed and injured in the war against Japan.
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were also in attendance, j oining Prime Minister David Cameron and former prisoners of war for a service at St Martin-in-the-Fields church.
VJ Day marked the end of one of the most hard-fought campaigns in British military history. It is estimated there were 71,000 British and Commonwealth casualties
‘It is out of order’
of the war with Japan, including more than 12,000 prisoners of war who died in horrific conditions.
Tony Hayes, chief executive of the Veterans’ Association UK, said he thought it was ‘mean’ to suspend the offer for VJ Day. He said: ‘They make enough money the rest of the year, you would think they could have run the offer on Saturday. I think it is out of order really. A lot of veterans travelled down to London, along with their families and supporters, many of them are elderly.’
He pointed to the London cab drivers who drove veterans for free ‘as a mark of respect’.
Burma veteran Vic Knibb, 90, described South West Trains as ‘money-grabbing’ and bosses should be ‘ashamed’ of themselves. The vice chairman of the Burma Star Association, who fought with the 4th Battalion the Royal West Kent, said: ‘It belittles the efforts of the soldiers and what they’ve done in the past.
‘The people who run the railway should be ashamed of themselves. I think it’s terrible.
‘They are saving themselves money and they ought to reimburse the veterans, their families and all those who attended the anniversary service. The moneygrabbing people at the railway should remember that they might not even be here were it not for the sacrifices made by ex-servicemen.’
Tony Groves, who travelled from Southampton to London Waterloo station on Saturday, complained the restrictions were unclear on South West’s website when viewed on a mobile phone.
He said on Twitter: ‘Shame your mobile website is not quite so explicit about date restrictions for family offers as your full site.
‘No mention of today’s VJ Day restriction on mobile site but is there on full – made a £37 difference to family day out.’
The offer had represented significant savings for travellers. Without it, a super off-peak day return ticket from Weymouth to London cost £62.40, or £41.20 with a senior railcard, while an off-peak return trip to London from Salisbury would cost £38.10 or £25.15 with an Armed Forces or senior railcard. Next Saturday these journeys will again cost just £20.
South West Trains operates about 1,600 trains in the south
and south-west of England with routes through Hampshire, Surrey, Dorset, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Devon, Somerset, and London.
Its ‘2015 Summer Promotion’ offers £20 off-peak day return tickets, £8 for children, across the South West Trains network.
The offer has been widely promoted on its website and its Twitter account. The company even posted an advert for the offer on Twitter on Saturday – the day it was not valid. When asked by a commuter on Saturday why it was not valid, South West said it was ‘due to several events taking place on our network today’.
A South West Trains spokesman said it was ‘common’ to have occasional days that were exempt from an offer. She said: ‘Our marketing of this particular offer clearly states any days that are not included in the promotion.
‘ Safety is our main priority. On days where there will be a large number of people using our network to attend special events, our experience is that encouraging even more people to t r avel t hrough a pri ce promotion can result in our servi ces becoming severely overcrowded. We believe it makes more sense to encourage people to take advantage of our offers at slightly less busy times when they will be able to enjoy the experience more.’
She added: ‘We support the Armed Forces community in a number of ways, including offering free travel to serving military personnel and veterans at different times of the year.’
‘Belittles efforts of the soldiers’