We continued our railway station safety campaign and celebrated the success of our “Let’s go car free” scheme to support Cumbrian tourism, as we continue to collaborate with our partners to make and support investments in our 16 stations.
Limited-edition ‘Safety Thirst’ low alcohol beer for Christmas
Over Christmas we launched a safety campaign with a new low alcohol beer to help reduce customer accidents on board and at stations during the festive period. The limited-edition beer was created in partnership with Birmingham Brewing Company, who are local to the West Coast Main Line, and is based on their award-winning low alcohol pale ale, Sober Brummie.
Named “Safety Thirst”, the 0.5 percent pale ale, was stocked onboard our trains to encourage those enjoying festivities to drink responsibly while travelling on the rail network, as part of our “Take care. Get there” campaign, which aims to help customers navigate railway stations safely.
The initiative was backed by the UK’s leading alcohol charity Drinkaware and the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB). Figures compiled by the RSSB show the number of accidents on the GB mainline network last year where intoxication was a possible factor increased by 45 percent during the Christmas period.
The campaign helped reduce accidents at our stations by 25% from the previous month and 13% from the year before, and we also saw a 100% improvement in assaults against our colleagues where alcohol was a factor, with no reported incidents.
“Let’s go car free” wins Marketing Campaign of the Year at UK Bus Awards
The “Let’s go car free” scheme, which was set up by Avanti West Coast in partnership with Stagecoach Cumbria and North Lancashire and Cumbria Tourism, won the ‘Marketing Campaign of the Year’ at the UK Bus Awards last year.
The initiative, which ran from September 2023 until November this year, advertised Cumbria as a destination to visit, whilst encouraging tourists to have a more sustainable trip by leaving their cars at home. It highlighted the ease of travel by rail, as well as connectivity to local bus routes around the region. The campaign, in response to Cumbria Tourism’s independent research last year that it was difficult to get to the region by rail or bus, has helped increase visitors to the county.
As part of the collaborative work between the three organisations, Keswick was also added to railway journey planners this summer so visitors could travel seamlessly across train and bus on a single integrated ticket.
The judges praised the green focus of the campaign by helping to support local Cumbria Tourism’s objectives to increase visitor numbers sustainably to the region.
