National Express is working with Women’s Aid to support survivors of abuse by providing free coach travel across the UK. The ‘Road to Refuge’ scheme provides women, men and children escaping domestic abuse with access to free travel aboard the company’s coaches to enable them to reach safe refuge accommodation and support.
The scheme aims to help those in need, for many of whom paying for travel can be very difficult and become a barrier to seeking refuge as survivors will likely be carrying little money and belongings when fleeing abuse. The new Road to Refuge scheme is an extension of Women’s Aid’s Rail to Refuge programme whereby survivors can access free travel on the UK’s rail network. Since the launch of Rail to Refuge in April 2020, the scheme has supported 7,432 people, including 2,146 children to travel to safety, an average of six per day.