Rail passengers encouraged to ‘go bananas’

TRAIN company Merseyrail has launched a pilot scheme at Liverpool Central station to give away free fruit every Monday to commuters.

Passengers will be able to collect the fruit as part of an initiative to encourage people to eat more fruit as part of their daily routine.

The scheme will be rolled out the Southport station in November.

Nicky Chang, station manager at Liverpool Central, said: “I’m a commuter myself and sometimes getting my five-a-day is the last thing on my mind on a busy Monday morning.

“Now our passengers can pick up some free fruit when they buy their ticket or their essentials, so there really is no excuse.

“Free Fruit Mondays is part of our commitment to supporting the health and wellbeing of our passengers.”

The freebies can be collected from special stands at M2Go outlets in the participating stations.

To benefit from the giveaways, passengers must buy a ticket or show their travel passes at the stores to claim the free fruit.

This new project by Merseyrail follows in the steps of other organisations, including Tesco, which earlier this year pledged to offer children free fruit whilst their parents did the weekly shop.

It also branches from the global hashtag #FreeFruitFriday, which calls on businesses to give away free fruit every week.

A Merseyrail spokesperson said: “Merseyrail is committed to promoting healthy eating, and depending on the success of this initiative, we intend to roll it out at other stations on the network over the coming weeks and months.”