Andover bus operator, Stagecoach, has unveiled a special ‘poppy bus’.

The themed bus has been launched to support the Royal British Legion’s annual Poppy Appeal.

The specially designed poppy bus will be used mainly on the Activ8 service between Andover and Salisbury, serving the garrison town of Tidworth as well as Ludgershall and Amesbury.

Stagecoach Operations Manager for Andover, Mark Jackson said: “I’m delighted that we have chosen to dedicate one of our buses, designed in partnership with The Royal British Legion, to support the annual Poppy Appeal.

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“Like many businesses, we employ a number of staff who are former service personnel, so we are extremely proud to unveil these poppy buses to help raise awareness to remember and support the armed forces community past and present.”

In 2015, Stagecoach Group signed the Ministry of Defence’s Armed Forces Corporate Covenant in support of the Armed Forces Community.

Mr Jackson added: “Our partnership with The Royal British Legion is incredibly important to us. Their work in supporting and caring for our veterans and serving personnel is unparalleled, and it is only right that we support them in this important endeavour.

“For many years we’ve shown our support for our armed forces and veterans with various iterations of branded poppy’s applied to our buses, but this year we wanted to take things a step further, and so we have launched our dedicated poppy bus which will run all-year-round, promoting the Appeal.

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In addition to the Poppy Bus, Stagecoach have also announced that they are offering free bus travel to military personnel past and present, and military cadets on Remembrance Day, Friday, November 11 and Remembrance Sunday, November 13.

On either day, Armed Forces personnel in Uniform or proof of military ID and veterans (wearing medals or a Veterans badge), and military cadets in uniform, will be able to travel free on any Stagecoach bus across Brighton, Hampshire, Surrey, and West Sussex.