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Virgin Trains now calling at Wolverine station

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jon0844

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Surprised this didn't get a mention on the forum this morning (or maybe I've missed it) but Virgin got a fair bit of press coverage with its renaming of Wolverhampton station to Wolverine station, as a combined April Fools' Day joke and film promotion.

http://www.thefancarpet.com/NewsPage.aspx?n_id=9366

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Deerfold

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I wonder how many unfamiliar travellers that confused? Will we be seeing a number of news articles about people overtravelling as they didn't realise they'd got to their stop?
 

SansPareil

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Seems pretty pathetic and tacky to me, railway companies have an obligation to provide straightforward and unambiguous signage, I wouldn't be surprised if this was legally defined somewhere. Hopefully we won't see a proliferation of this sort of thing.
 

DarloRich

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I wonder how many unfamiliar travellers that confused? Will we be seeing a number of news articles about people overtravelling as they didn't realise they'd got to their stop?

no!

Seems pretty pathetic and tacky to me, railway companies have an obligation to provide straightforward and unambiguous signage, I wouldn't be surprised if this was legally defined somewhere. Hopefully we won't see a proliferation of this sort of thing.

WOW - What a way to suck the life out of a harmless, very short term, publicity stunt! Lighten up!
 

Deerfold

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no!

WOW - What a way to suck the life out of a harmless, very short term, publicity stunt! Lighten up!

It's not uncommon for several places in an area to have similar names.

I can see someone not getting out if they thought they were in the wrong place. On a Virgin service that could leave them a long way away.

I'd argue it's not obviously harmless.

I speak as someone who's shared and laughed at a number of April Fool's pranks today. Just not this one.
 

carriageline

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But were announcements on trains changed? Presuming only VT stop there, what other station could be familiar to Wolverhampton?
 

IKBrunel

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If cheap publicity stunts raise the profile of the railway & get more passengers then fine by me :)
 

Deerfold

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But were announcements on trains changed? Presuming only VT stop there, what other station could be familiar to Wolverhampton?

Not quite sure what the second half of your post means but at least these companies stop at Wolverhampton:

Virgin
Cross Country
London Midland
Arriva Wales
 

Trainfan344

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As well as infrequent travellers, how many commuters simply ignored it?
 

jon0844

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I did consider the chance of confusion but figured staff were told about it and told passengers. But, it does possibly mean that now it's been done here for fun, it could mean other companies will seek to do it for marketing purposes.

But, it was still quite funny even if not so much an April Fool, more a publicity stunt for both Virgin and the film company.
 

185143

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carriageline:1753371 said:
But were announcements on trains changed? Presuming only VT stop there, what other station could be familiar to Wolverhampton?
I believe they were, it was on VT's Facebook page
 

jon0844

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It appears they changed everything, but it might not be quite what it seemed. There may well have been other signs and posters explaining the situation to potentially confused people.

It was a bit of fun, sure, but there IS a concern that Virgin's publicity stunt might encourage more of this to happen, and then it might be less fun.

I am sure that anyone overcarried because they didn't recognise their stop wouldn't have been subjected to any sort of penalty. If they did, it should be a fairly easy thing to appeal.
 

SansPareil

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WOW - What a way to suck the life out of a harmless, very short term, publicity stunt! Lighten up!

It's worth remembering that not everyone has the same standard of eyesight, hearing, knowledge of geography, the English language or critical faculties. Many people will be travelling in the UK daily who are not fully familiar with the Latin alphabet, I might well struggle if I was travelling in China, Japan or Russia and a station was renamed in a punning way.

Disability laws mandate train doors be different colours, and on-board information screens have to be changed because they are a few mm too small, that's the reality of the modern railway. With that background is it really appropriate for a TOC to rename a railway station temporarily as part of a film promotion.

I'd be more sympathetic if they'd been promoting a local charity or tourist attraction, or if the pun was genuinely funny. As it was it was simply a PR exercise in order to get press coverage for a commercial partner, which struck me as fairly tawdry.
 

transmanche

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It's worth remembering that not everyone has the same standard of eyesight, hearing, knowledge of geography, the English language or critical faculties. Many people will be travelling in the UK daily who are not fully familiar with the Latin alphabet, I might well struggle if I was travelling in China, Japan or Russia and a station was renamed in a punning way.

Disability laws mandate train doors be different colours, and on-board information screens have to be changed because they are a few mm too small, that's the reality of the modern railway. With that background is it really appropriate for a TOC to rename a railway station temporarily as part of a film promotion.

I'd be more sympathetic if they'd been promoting a local charity or tourist attraction, or if the pun was genuinely funny. As it was it was simply a PR exercise in order to get press coverage for a commercial partner, which struck me as fairly tawdry.
Have I understood you correctly?

It's wrong to ignore accessibility rules for commercial purposes, but it's OK to do so if it's for a 'worthy' cause?​

Surely it's either right or wrong? No matter what the motivation behind it is?
 

Simon11

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It was only a few signs......

If anything they missed a trick by not giving out seats on the train to disabled kids. That would have generated more coverage and given the kids a great day out.
 

SansPareil

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Have I understood you correctly?

It's wrong to ignore accessibility rules for commercial purposes, but it's OK to do so if it's for a 'worthy' cause?​

Surely it's either right or wrong? No matter what the motivation behind it is?

The world's not binary though, there are shades of grey. A variety club day out from platform 9&3/4 to Hogsmeade Station (Watford) for the Harry Potter studio tour, or CLAP Junction for a sexual health awareness day, is a different prospect to say Liverpool Smirnoff Lime Vodka Street.
 
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