One of Boris’s key campaign pledges was to give “injured veterans who live in London” free transport. Today, I was pleased to see that he has confirmed his commitment to this pledge, with a press release stating that:
“The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, today announced that injured war veterans in London are to receive free travel on the capital’s transport network, whether they are residents or visitors, in recognition of their service to the country”.
The Mail, The Telegraph and the BBC have all regurgitated this announcement, but an article, supposedly by Boris himself, seems to announce a different commitment, stating that “every single UK war veteran will be able to travel for free on London transport – on the tubes, buses, trams, DLR and London Overground.”
The GLA state that “full details of the application process will be available on the Transport for London website from this Autumn“, but will it be available to every single UK war veteran or only the injured?
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Boris will also need to come up with a working definition of ‘war veteran’ - harder than it looks.
According to the GLA press release, it will be “all war veterans in receipt of a pension under the War Pensions Scheme or the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme, including war widows and widowers and eligible dependents”.
Both of those cater largely to injured veterans, and I’ll have to research a little to see if there are possible problems.
Mmmm, can’t help noticing that this announcement comes only a few days after Boris has indicated he’s doing away with the 50% concession to those in receipt of income support.
Anyone who’s lived through Thatch or Bliar’s reigns is a war veteran. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very grateful to those who for in WWII - but after that? Not so much.
Most injured ex-service personnel would already receive a travel concession as people in receipt of retirement pensions or disability benefits. The additional numbers are small, but its a clever “dog-whistle” issue on his part. Are Gurkhas included?
“Are Gurkhas included?”
Those that served after 1997 will, I believe, but the rights of those that retired before that date are ambiguous. I don’t believe that they are even automatically entitled to UK citizenship, and so we may only find out in the autumn.
I was shot, but have not impairment, does that mean that I am eligible, or am I not injured enough for that? I was homeless for 5 years and now that I have just managed to get my faculties together, does that mean I am still not eligible, or does that not count towards being a veteran?
Hi Darren,
I’m fairly sure that you’ll be eligible, but you should email one of the contacts here to check:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/contact/4417.aspx
Ben