Free Post for Christmas, Kent on Sunday

Support from the grass roots!


MP calls for free Christmas parcel post for Armed Forces


MP Roger Gale
Christmas parcel post should be free for members of the Armed Forces on active service, according a leading backbench MP.

Thanet North Tory MP, Roger Gale, made his call in written Parliamentary Question to the Defence Minister.

He asks the Government to make Christmas parcel post free of charge to the families of "all Army, Navy and RAF personnel serving in British Forces Post Office areas covering war zones and adjoining areas on active service".

Mr Gale a member of the Parliament and Armed Forces Scheme, said: "We know that all of our Armed Forces, and particularly the Army, are faced with growing numbers of men and women who wish to leave the service.

“We know that our troops are faced with overstretch as a result of our commitments not only in Iraq and Afghanistan but in other locations around the globe.

“We know that issues such as service taxation, the right to vote and, most particularly, leave time with families, have proved corrosive.

“Christmas is an emotive time for those facing danger far from home.

“I feel that the very least that a grateful nation can do - and I appreciate that there is a not inconsiderable cost involved - is to say, immediately, that Christmas parcel post will be free so that gifts from families at home to those in the hotspots can be sent now, without cost, and delivered in time for Christmas.

“We have it in our power to say a simple ‘thank you’ and we should do so."

 

From DefenceNet:

There's also a Freepost parcel service for Service personnel admitted to RCDM, JSMRU Headley Court and MDHUs. It does not apply to hospitals served by BFPO (except any listed above) i.e. NI, Cyprus, Gib and BFG.

 

Hi ViroBono
Bit out of date there it seems to have worked then!

 

The hospital Freepost concession is a new one. I'll post the reference to it (and the new hospital welfare package) tomorrow).