A RAILWAY scheme has helped more than 150 adults and 70 children flee domestic abuse by providing free travel.

Great Western Railway joined forces with the domestic abuse charity Women’s Aid to launch the Rail to Refuge scheme in March last year, which was adopted nationally and has helped more than 1,300 adults and children across the UK.

The Rail to Refuge scheme provides free train travel across the GWR network and nationally for women or men and their families who need to get to a place of safety.

Figures from the scheme show four survivors a day, on average, have been using the lifesaving scheme to access free train travel.

Those who have used the service are travelling because either their perpetrator has discovered their location, they need to leave the local area where their perpetrator is or because of a lack of refuge space in their community.

A spokesman from GWR said: "The extension of the national scheme, added to our own permanent scheme, means we can continue to help get those who need help to a place of safety anywhere in the country."

Women's Aid chief executive, Farah Nazeer said: "Many women and children have to travel long distances to escape their abuser. There remains a serious shortage of refuge spaces, so it is vital that women are not prevented access to safety in a refuge by the cost of travel."