London Poppy Day which raises up to £1m cancelled due to rail strikes

The annual London Poppy Day which raises up to £1m has been cancelled due to rail strikes.

The event sees 2,000 military personnel and veterans collecting for the Royal British Legion's (RBL) Poppy Appeal in transport hubs across the capital.

It was due to be held on 3 November and the RBL says it is "urgently considering alternative arrangements to lessen the impact from the loss of funds caused by this cancellation on its vital work with the Armed Forces community".

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The charity said in a statement: "The Royal British Legion has cancelled its London Poppy Day, which raises up to £1m annually, on Thursday 3rd November owing to a rail strike called by the RMT.

"The event sees 2,000 military personnel and veterans collecting for the RBL's Poppy Appeal across transport hubs in London. It is the most successful single-day collection of its kind in the UK and is reliant on donations from commuters.

"The charity is urgently considering alternative arrangements to lessen the impact from the loss of funds caused by this cancellation on its vital work with the Armed Forces community."

Watch: Hundreds of Armed Forces personnel take part London Poppy Day last year.

London Poppy Day has taken place annually on the first Thursday in November since 2006 and aims to raise £1m in a day.

Serving military personnel, veterans and volunteers were expected to collect money in 70 locations across London, including tube and railway stations and office blocks.

Ten military bands were also set to perform across London.

The Poppy Appeal is the RBL's biggest fundraising campaign and is held every year in November during the period of Remembrance, raising money to support serving and ex-military personnel.

The Royal British Legion's Poppy Appeal Director, Simon O'Leary, said: "London Poppy Day is one of the most important days in our annual Remembrance calendar, it is a huge logistical operation across the capital taking significant planning and resource, which we are now unfortunately in the process of cancelling and informing our volunteers to stand down.

"The same situation occurred during the rail strikes in 2016, and we were grateful to the RMT on that occasion for rearranging the strike action, however, they have confirmed the strike will be going ahead on 3 November this year."