Virgin Radio, The Sun offer key workers 35,000 free tickets to Big Thank You Tour

Virgin Radio and The Sun have opened registrations for their Big Thank You Tour, offering key workers across the UK 35,000 free tickets for three arena shows in London, Manchester and Glasgow this autumn.

The shows are envisaged as an enormous national thank you to coronavirus key workers for their heroic front line work.

Anyone who has been classified as a key worker during the pandemic is eligible to apply for a pair of tickets, and they can simply go to bigthankyoutour.co.uk and fill in the details to be in with a chance of attending one of the shows.

Both Virgin Radio and The Sun have promised that the shows will be packed with chart-topping talent and very special guest appearances.

“We owe our brilliant bus drivers and posties, our fantastic shop workers and delivery drivers - and of course, our wonderful health and social care workers - the sun, the moon and the stars for their hard work and commitment,” commented Mike Cass, content director for the Virgin Radio network.

“We can’t deliver on the first two, but stars we can do. And we plan to fill three of the biggest arenas in the UK chock-full of rock and pop royalty to entertain tens of thousands of key worker this autumn.”

Tour dates will take in The SSE Arena, Wembley (Wednesday 28 October), Manchester Arena (Thursday 29 October) and The SSE Hydro Glasgow (Sunday 1 November).

Wembley show will incorporate The Sun’s Who Cares Wins Awards, celebrating healthcare workers battling the virus.

The Sun’s Who Cares Wins Appeal in partnership with NHS Charities Together has hit its £1m target after less than a month.

Registrations to the Big Thank You Tour will stay open until the end of June. Winners will be selected randomly using a ticket ballot.

Neil Spencer, retail director at News UK, said: “Retailers have been the lifeblood of their local communities throughout this crisis and as an industry we are extremely grateful for all the work that has gone into ensuring our readers can still access their favourite newspapers at this time.

“The Big Thank You Tour is a way to say thank you to all key workers, and I hope our retail heroes will be a big part of this, so please do get nominating.”