VolkerRail sponsors Railway Children Sleepout 2020
VolkerRail will be the main sponsor for the Railway Children’s Sleepout 2020 event.
On Thursday 30 January 2020, groups of people from across the industry will be swapping their warm beds for the cold floor of nine railway stations across the country, including:
- London Bridge Station
- London Waterloo
- Liverpool Lime Street
- Manchester Piccadilly
- Milton Keynes Central
- Birmingham New Street
- Leeds Station
- Glasgow Central
- Derby Railway Station
The rail network and its stations are magnets to vulnerable children, offering them places to go and places to hide. This event aims to raise awareness, as well as vital funds, to support the hundreds of children who face this ordeal every day around the world.
Commenting on the involvement of VolkerRail, finance director, Andrew Wilkins, said: “Raising awareness of runaway children and the importance of reaching them as soon as possible is vital in helping to take steps to reduce the number of children who are left vulnerable on our streets every year. The Railway Children charity do so much to help reach as many children as possible and we are proud to continue to support this amazing cause.”
In 2018/19 the British Transport Police dealt with nearly 9,000 child safeguarding incidents on the rail network and this year that number is anticipated to increase to 10,000. A third of children identified had run away from home or care.
Katie Mason, Railway Children’s events manager, said: “This event made a huge impact in January so we’re bringing it back and expanding to even more locations for 2020. We thank VolkerRail for their support of this event and urge as many people as possible to find the sleepout station nearest to you and grab your sleeping bag – this fundraiser is so simple you can do it in your sleep.”
For more information, please visit: https://www.railwaychildren.org.uk/events/events/railway-children-sleepout/