Passengers at Bristol Temple Meads have donated over £4,000 to a Bristol charity that is tackling homelessness in the city.

The charity, TAP for Bristol, has placed electronic donation points throughout the city, including at Temple Meads staton, that allows people to donate £3 per tap from their contactless credit or debit cards.

The station’s donation point was installed in 2020 and is located opposite the phone booths at the station’s station entrance. All donations are divided equally between Caring in Bristol, which is a local non-profit charity aimed at preventing homelessness, and other organisations tackling homelessness, such as Second Step and St. Mungo’s.

TAP for Bristol is led by Bristol City Centre Business Improvement District (BID), working with Caring in Bristol and Redcliffe and Temple Business Improvement Districts. They have placed electronic donation points throughout the city that since 2019 have collectively raised over £70,000.

The Temple Meads has done particularly well, passing the £4,000 milestone in recent weeks. Last month, Paula Ratcliffe from Bristol City Centre Business Improvement District and the project lead for TAP for Bristol visited the station where she presented the Network Rail station management team with a certificate that recognised the achievement.

Among the beneficiaries from the donations so far is Caring in Bristol’s homelessness prevention work, with £35,000 helping those who have struggled with rent and bill payments during the pandemic.

Another £35,000 worth of grants have been provided to a range of charities for emergency homelessness support, with the most recent being 1625 Independent People and One25, which support young homeless people or are affected by energy poverty, and women facing multiple disadvantages by supporting them in moving from crisis to independence.

Bernadette Sachse, Network Rail’s station manager for Bristol Temple Meads, said: “We’re so happy that the TAP for Bristol donation point is having such an impact with our passengers.

“As a company, we’re supporting the rail industry’s ‘Routes out of Homelessness’ campaign, which offers support to the charities that work so hard to provide vulnerable people with a brighter future. Knowing that all the donations are being used for this purpose within Bristol is fantastic and we’d like to thank Bristol City Centre BID, Caring in Bristol and our passengers for everything they’re doing to support such a worthwhile cause.

“We hope that people will keep donating when they’re able to and we’ll continue to work with Paula and the team at Bristol City Centre BID to raise funds and awareness of the great work being done thanks to this initiative.”

Paula Ratcliffe, Bristol City Centre BID’s project lead for TAP for Bristol said: “We are very grateful to Network Rail for hosting a TAP donation point and helping to raise these vital funds. The generosity of staff and passengers at Bristol Temple Meads shows a commitment to tackling the issues that are faced by so many in our city and helping to solve homelessness in Bristol.

“We hope to increase the number of donation points across the city and are looking forward to working with more charities, supporting more individuals to live a life without homelessness.”