Veterans get apology after advert

By Paul Geater

POWER giant Southern Electric today apologised to war veterans who were outraged by an "insensitive" and "offensive" advert which appeared just two days before Remembrance Sunday.

Members of the Royal British Legion in Suffolk were angered by an advert placed by Southern Electric trying to attract more customers in the region.

Based on a headline in The Sun newspaper, the advert read: "TXU – Germans are now in power!" referring to its purchaser Powergen being owned by Essen-based E.On.

Reg Driver from the Ipswich branch of the Royal British Legion was shocked by the adverts, especially as they were published at this time of the year.

"They are very tasteless, many of my members will find this very offensive," said Reg Driver from Ipswich Royal British Legion.

"We get used to all the wartime puns when there is a football match with Germany, but what is so bad about this is the timing – coming just before Remembrance Day," he added.

His points were supported by the Legion's Suffolk secretary Jonathan Collins.

"For people who have fought in the war, this would not be funny. It is totally inappropriate, especially at this time of the year.

"I can fully understand the feelings of members about this – it is very insensitive," he said.

Alan Young from Southern Electric, the retail arm of Perth-based Scottish and Southern Energy, said his company had no intention of causing any offence.

"We are very sorry if this has upset anyone from the Royal British Legion, and we would invite them to contact us if they wish to talk to us about this," he said.

"No disrespect was intended to any war veterans. The timing of this campaign was purely because of the takeover of TXU by E.On.

"We wanted to highlight the fact that customers have a British alternative in an eye-catching way.

"This company has no wish to be disrespectful – our employees will be observing the two-minute silence at work on Monday. Again, we are very sorry is anyone is offended."