Alton Towers owner donates thousands of tickets to key workers in ‘Big Merlin Thank You’

The company that owns Alton Towers is giving away 30,000 tickets to emergency services and support workers across the world.

Merlin Entertainments is donating the tickets to people in Asia, North America, Australia and New Zealand as well as 10,000 in the UK.

Most of the tickets in the UK will be made available on Blue Light Tickets, a platform where frontline workers can register to secure free tickets for venues, events donated by a number of companies.

As well as Alton Towers days out will be offered at UK attractions including Chessington World of Adventures, LEGOLAND Windsor, Thorpe Park, The Bear Grylls Adventure and some Madame Tussauds and SEA LIFE Centres.

Will Campbell-Lamerton, Partnerships and Operations Manager at Blue Light Tickets, said:  “In these difficult times, we have been blown away by Merlin’s generosity.

“We know that free tickets to leisure days out will spread the message of ‘thank you’ to NHS, healthcare and emergency service workers, who’ve shown superhero strength and dedication in recent months.

“For those who haven’t been able to spend much time with their families during the COVID-19 lockdown, either as a result of long working hours or social distancing, we hope that a free day out at a Merlin resort/attraction will give some respite to those who need it most.”

Sandra Hazel, Charity Head Merlin’s Magic Wand:  “We would like to say a Big Merlin Thank You to the emergency and essential frontline workers who have played a vital role in the UK’s response to the pandemic.

“Their dedication and tireless effort is hugely appreciated by the whole nation, and we are delighted to be able to offer them a fun day out through the Blue Light Card scheme.”

A total of 3,000 of the tickets will be divided equally across 30 different companies in the UK whose employees have continued to work throughout the pandemic.

These include:

• Teachers via the ASCL,
• Royal Mail postal staff,
• Compass Group UK & Ireland – the UK’s largest food and support services company (who have been working in healthcare, education and defence as well as supporting key workers within business and industry sectors),
• WHSmith (for their post office colleagues who provided vital postal and banking services on the high street and for their store colleagues across over 100 hospitals who served frontline NHS staff),
• Council workers across the UK including refuse collectors.
• A range of the major high street supermarkets including Tesco
• Food takeaway delivery companies