Veterans and military personnel in Ayrshire will be able to travel for free on Stagecoach buses on Remembrance Day and Remembrance Sunday this year.

The company has confirmed its ongoing commitment to the armed forces by announcing that it will be offering free travel for those eligible on its bus services on November 11 and 14.

With Remembrance services planned at memorials across Ayrshire, it is hoped that people wishing to pay their respects will take up the offer to travel free of charge on the service of their choice. 

The commitment to free travel, which will continue every year, comes off the back of Stagecoach’s newly launched employee-led Veterans Network which was launched to allow Stagecoach colleagues to make change, raise awareness, help influence business decisions and introduce new ways of working to make the company even stronger.

The Veteran Network is also engaging with the armed forces on a recruitment campaign directly targeting those who are leaving the military to find job opportunities at Stagecoach.  

As a long-time supporter of the Poppy Appeal, and in addition to free travel on November 11 and 14, Stagecoach will also be operating a number of Poppy Buses across its network.

Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald:

Poppies will be displayed on the front of a number of buses across the country with some of the destination blinds showing the messaging “We will remember them”.

Employees across Stagecoach will be asked to honour the minutes’ silence, too.

Simon Tramalloni is co-lead for the Stagecoach Veterans Network. He previously served in the Armed Forces serving in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo, Africa and the Middle East.

He said: “Stagecoach has a strong commitment to supporting the armed forces and our veterans, and it’s great that we are able to offer free bus and tram travel across the whole country as we mark Remembrance Day. 

“We have thousands of ex forces personnel working across our business and having the new Veterans Network is allowing us to build on the work that Stagecoach has led over many years and identify how else we can support those veterans already working for us and those that may want to come and join the company. 

“Remembrance Day and the Poppy Appeal are causes close to the hearts of many of our employees and customers and we are very pleased to be making this commitment that will hopefully help people to attend memorials across the UK.”