Elle Shakespeare **HAS LEFT**

Said the following about CrossCountry External Communications team:

“The External Communications team at CrossCountry has being doing a lot more than just communicating. 2019 capped off a three-year period where they have become more involved in community work and actions to benefit the societies and regions their trains serve. And using the benefits of their Direct Award in 2016, have provided over £900,000 in funding to Community Rail Partnerships and schemes across Britain.

They set up an industry leading partnership with the UK Scouting Association to encourage safe and responsible behaviour to a younger audience, which has seen over 34,000 Personal Safety Badges awarded. They manage the company’s Great Causes scheme, which reviews all external and internal requests for assistance, supporting hundreds of organisations and individuals each year in charitable events and projects to benefit local communities. In association with ACoRP, the team also created the Socially Enterprising Toolkit for community groups, which contains invaluable advice and case studies on how to get social enterprises started to benefit a community and help make CRPs more self-sustainable.

Another key project has been working with regional airports to provide customers with a streamlined m-Ticket service delivering through ticketing to and from airports using public transport. This initiative now includes Leeds-Bradford, Manchester and Newcastle airports, and have all produced positive results including £375,000 from ticket sales.

And all of this on top of their day job keeping journalists informed about the franchise, helping external stakeholder understand the business and how it can support their local transport needs, and promoting the record, achievements and importance of Britain’s railways.“