Strange signs at Preston station

[thenorthern]

The other day when I was at Preston I noticed this sign saying the standard "no smoking" "no skateboarding or cycling" and "no running" below that it had "no sumo wrestling" "no teleporting" "no flying" which I know is done is good humour.

Are these signs at Preston a new roll-out across Virgin Trains or are they just a one off at Preston?

 

[HarleyDavidson]

Maybe they're referring to druggies, they're often flying on coke,ganja & whatever.

 

[cf111]

Virgin have a habit of putting something a bit more "fun" in their signage or announcements. I don't have a problem with it but the first time a Pendolino toilet started talking to me about goldfish I thought I had lost my mind.

 

[HarleyDavidson]

It probably thought you were an old trout.

 

[afyutr]

Baby Sumo wrestlers?

I like it.

 

[PHILIPE]

Do they repeatedly announce them over the Tannoy as well ? Do not do this/that etc.

 

[Crossover]

Well, they clearly don't want teleporting as otherwise you'd have no reason to travel with them :P

 

[Busaholic]

A shorter notice could be created saying what is allowed on Virgin:-
1. Paying through the nose for a standard ticket and...err,that's it.

 

[GatwickDepress]

Please refrain from using boundary zone tickets as well.

 

[HarleyDavidson]

I think asking "Is my Oyster card still valid?" in Stoke on Trent might be pushing it a tad.

 

[12CSVT]

I think asking "Is my Oyster card still valid?" in Stoke on Trent might be pushing it a tad.

You could pretend you got it mixed up with Stoke Newington (only joking)

 

[driver9000]

Are these signs at Preston a new roll-out across Virgin Trains or are they just a one off at Preston?

They're at a few Virgin stations, I've seen them at Oxenholme, Penrith and Carlisle.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Similar to Delta Airlines who use humor in their safety announcements. They use sstuff like - no smoking but use a BBQ smoker etc

 

[herschell]

I must admit that's why I like Virgin, for there humour both at stations and on-board as it lightens the mood when your travelling

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Baby Sumo wrestlers? I like it.

Have you seen the size of some of the larger-sized babies these days ?

 

[table38]

You'd have thought Virgin would have learned their lesson with wacky signs when they tried to ban kissing at Warrington Bank Quay, and then had to remove the sign.

Apparently it was all the customer's fault though, because "some people took the message a little more seriously than others"

Of course, only officially sanctioned wackiness is permitted. Guards and Catering Staff are not encouraged to use their initiative and deviate from the approved on-train announcements, where a bit of variety and levity certainly would brighten the day!

 

[Busaholic]

You'd have thought Virgin would have learned their lesson with wacky signs when they tried to ban kissing at Warrington Bank Quay, and then had to remove the sign.

Apparently it was all the customer's fault though, because "some people took the message a little more seriously than others"

Of course, only officially sanctioned wackiness is permitted. Guards and Catering Staff are not encouraged to use their initiative and deviate from the approved on-train announcements, where a bit of variety and levity certainly would brighten the day!

Richard Branson has always been a control freak.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Of course, only officially sanctioned wackiness is permitted. Guards and Catering Staff are not encouraged to use their initiative and deviate from the approved on-train announcements, where a bit of variety and levity certainly would brighten the day!

Indeed. One thing that really annoys me (and most long-distance TOCs are guilty of this to be fair) is the buffet announcement, which is all well and good until they list literlly every last item stocked and the various combination of meal deals for them. It's worse that the contents they list are all things you would logically expect to find in a buffet too. Don't get me started on those damn 'Don't flush your...' announcements either

I had a guard the other week who announced each station by drawing out the final syllable of each station. Raised a smile from me and was certainly much more bearable than the horrendously-depressing automated voice they have on 390s.

 

[cf111]

It probably thought you were an old trout.

In that case it could have called me worse

 

[nuneatonmark]

You'd have thought Virgin would have learned their lesson with wacky signs when they tried to ban kissing at Warrington Bank Quay, and then had to remove the sign.

Apparently it was all the customer's fault though, because "some people took the message a little more seriously than others"

Of course, only officially sanctioned wackiness is permitted. Guards and Catering Staff are not encouraged to use their initiative and deviate from the approved on-train announcements, where a bit of variety and levity certainly would brighten the day!

All the Virgin train loos have the sign about not flushing nappies, old jumpers, goldfish, hopes, dreams etc down the loo, very funny the first 2-3 times.

 

[northwichcat]

Well it's not as bad as the ones they put up at Penrith: http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=257

 

[61653 HTAFC]

As a slight diversion, but not one deserving its own thread:

The recorded announcements at Mirfield (and presumably some other unstaffed Northern stations) have recently had an amusing update - the one about left luggage now ends:

"... Any unattended bags will be removed and may be destroyed...
Even if it's a really nice bag!"

 

[Busaholic]

As a slight diversion, but not one deserving its own thread:

The recorded announcements at Mirfield (and presumably some other unstaffed Northern stations) have recently had an amusing update - the one about left luggage now ends:

"... Any unattended bags will be removed and may be destroyed...
Even if it's a really nice bag!"

At an unstaffed station, presumably removed by the fairies.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

At an unstaffed station, presumably removed by the fairies.

Indeed, that did occur to me too!

 

[DynamicSpirit]

All the Virgin train loos have the sign about not flushing nappies, old jumpers, goldfish, hopes, dreams etc down the loo, very funny the first 2-3 times.

Agreed. That announcement is very funny the first couple of times, but by the time you get to the 10th time, it starts to get pretty annoying Someone needs to explain to the Virgin marketing people that if they are going to use humour in audio announcements, then they really need to change the announcements frequently (Not so bad for posters because they don't intrude on your consciousness in the way audio announcements do).

 

[thenorthern]

I noticed the signs at Stoke-on-Trent has the same signs as well it must be a roll out across the network.