The most stupid question you have been asked

[Prairie_5542]

Whilst working at Colchester a few years ago a lady came in to the office and asked ''Can you please help me. I can't find platform 4 as they've all got 'ONE' written on them!!''

 

[Dave1987]

Whilst working at Colchester a few years ago a lady came in to the office and asked ''Can you please help me. I can't find platform 4 as they've all got 'ONE' written on them!!''

LOL LOL LOL LOL!!! Thats brilliant

 

[LE Greys]

Whilst working at Colchester a few years ago a lady came in to the office and asked ''Can you please help me. I can't find platform 4 as they've all got 'ONE' written on them!!''

Good thing she wasn't running late. The 09:40 ONE service might be a bit awkward for her.

 

[Tomonthetrain]

Heard today at Foregate street

"is this a train"

Person standing next to a 172!!

 

[asylumxl]

Heard today at Foregate street

"is this a train"

Person standing next to a 172!!

Well they do sound like buses .

 

[Crossover]

Heard today at Foregate street

"is this a train"

Person standing next to a 172!!

If they had been stood next to a Pacer it would be understandable, but not next to a 172!

 

[trainophile]

Whilst working at Colchester a few years ago a lady came in to the office and asked ''Can you please help me. I can't find platform 4 as they've all got 'ONE' written on them!!''

I don't get it . Explain please someone .

 

[richw]

I don't get it . Explain please someone .

Is this question to fit in with the thread title? If not the former operator was a TOC using the trading name "ONE" and all the platform signs had their trading name branding on them.

 

[trainophile]

Is this question to fit in with the thread title? If not the former operator was a TOC using the trading name "ONE" and all the platform signs had their trading name branding on them.

Lol no, I was genuinely bemused by the ONE thing. I've never heard of a TOC called ONE. I did try to think around the something something Express but couldn't come up with anything.

Thanks for clarifying.

 

[richw]

It was the trading name/ branding of National Express East Anglia from 2004 -2008,

 

[trainophile]

It was the trading name/ branding of National Express East Anglia from 2004 -2008,

Aha, makes sense now. Still not sure what the 'O' stood for though.

 

[Dave1987]

Aha, makes sense now. Still not sure what the 'O' stood for though.

Operated by national express

So " O N E "

 

[jon0844]

It was a truly awful name, made even more confusing at stations like Cambridge in April 2006 when you got ONE trains and FIRST trains!

I also think the livery was horrid, but that's subjective.

 

[ainsworth74]

It was a truly awful name, made even more confusing at stations like Cambridge in April 2006 when you got ONE trains and FIRST trains!

Or how about 'platform one for the eleven oh one ONE service to...'

 

[krus_aragon]

maes tege issa 1543 Maesteg ycha 1647 Maesteg uchaf 1813

Of course, it could have been named Y Llwyni 1773

That would have thrown him!

issa and ycha/uchaf being lower and higher, of course. A flick through my first edition OS maps shows Maes-têg in official use. I'm sure Maysteg will have been written by someone in the days before standardised spelling, but I haven't seen it myself.

 

[BestWestern]

It was a truly awful name, made even more confusing at stations like Cambridge in April 2006 when you got ONE trains and FIRST trains!

I also think the livery was horrid, but that's subjective.

The name was clearly a bad idea from a practical point of view, but probably sounded quite trendy and 'current' when it was being discussed by people in suits (who probably don't use trains) in a boardroom somewhere. As for the livery, I must admit that I actually thought it fairly pleasing, though not the best. I accept that I seem to be firmly in the minority on that though!

 

[Sloppyjag]

A few years back, when working for BT Directory Enquiries, I took a call from a lady who wanted to find out who had called her. She rhymed off a mobile number. We couldn't give out that sort of information even if we had it. (There were very few mobile numbers in the database at that time.) However, I could tell her that the call had come from an Orange mobile phone.

"Blimey! How can you tell what colour it is?" she asked.

 

[Jim_]

The name was clearly a bad idea from a practical point of view, but probably sounded quite trendy and 'current' when it was being discussed by people in suits (who probably don't use trains) in a boardroom somewhere. As for the livery, I must admit that I actually thought it fairly pleasing, though not the best. I accept that I seem to be firmly in the minority on that though!

The initial business name they used was "London Eastern Railways" which seemed like a much more sensible name for a railway, but there you go. The livery had a kind of "gay pride" look to it which I thought was rather snazzy.

 

[BestWestern]

The initial business name they used was "London Eastern Railways" which seemed like a much more sensible name for a railway, but there you go. The livery had a kind of "gay pride" look to it which I thought was rather snazzy.

I like that! I'd never though of the 'Pride' likeness, but yes I suppose it does have that look about it.

I'm not really into the 'old fashioned' railway name thing, so I'd have to say I prefer ONE to 'LER'; it is at least simple and easy to remember. GNER got away with it simply because the operation had the air of quality about it that an olde world name implies, but I very much doubt the Anglia operation would have had the same wow factor about it

A few years back, when working for BT Directory Enquiries, I took a call from a lady who wanted to find out who had called her. She rhymed off a mobile number. We couldn't give out that sort of information even if we had it. (There were very few mobile numbers in the database at that time.) However, I could tell her that the call had come from an Orange mobile phone.

"Blimey! How can you tell what colour it is?" she asked.

Good job it wasn't a Virgin!

 

[DelayRepay]

On my way home the week before Christmas I had to wait in the queue for the booking office while the staff member very politely explained to the person in front that whilst he sympathised that the post office had closed early, it wasn't possible to pay an electircity bill at the ticket window.

 

[MCR247]

You can't be serious?!

 

[dvboy]

A few years back, when working for BT Directory Enquiries, I took a call from a lady who wanted to find out who had called her. She rhymed off a mobile number. We couldn't give out that sort of information even if we had it. (There were very few mobile numbers in the database at that time.) However, I could tell her that the call had come from an Orange mobile phone.

"Blimey! How can you tell what colour it is?" she asked.

Interesting. Having worked for BT DQ myself, I know there is no reverse look-up facility. You wouldn't even know which network it was.

You do get some stupid questions on DQ, mostly people adamant that you should have a number for a place they visited one afternoon back in 1976 in the middle of nowhere or expect you to have local knowledge of somewhere the other end of the country.

I remember being asked for the number for the Isle of Wight ferry and asking "Is that on the Isle of Wight?"

 

[Yew]

Stood on the platform on the very unelectrified MML at Beeston, I overheard a young lady ask her boyfriend if the train that had just arrived was the electric one. He said "No but the next train was".

Very worrying !

Could that have been the 'Leicester' train, but misheard?

 

[LE Greys]

Interesting. Having worked for BT DQ myself, I know there is no reverse look-up facility. You wouldn't even know which network it was.

You do get some stupid questions on DQ, mostly people adamant that you should have a number for a place they visited one afternoon back in 1976 in the middle of nowhere or expect you to have local knowledge of somewhere the other end of the country.

I remember being asked for the number for the Isle of Wight ferry and asking "Is that on the Isle of Wight?"

Blimey, I remember once someone ringing me from a number I didn't recognise, so I 1471-ed it, then dialled it. No answer, so I rang Directory Enquiries to see if I could find out who it was. I was astonished when they didn't tell me. Turned out it was my mum calling me from a 'phone box on Cambridge station, but imagine if the circumstances had been different. Anything from menacing 'phonecalls to someone calling in a confused state, then collapsing at an isolated location.

Maybe I just think too much.

 

[dvboy]

Blimey, I remember once someone ringing me from a number I didn't recognise, so I 1471-ed it, then dialled it. No answer, so I rang Directory Enquiries to see if I could find out who it was. I was astonished when they didn't tell me. Turned out it was my mum calling me from a 'phone box on Cambridge station, but imagine if the circumstances had been different. Anything from menacing 'phonecalls to someone calling in a confused state, then collapsing at an isolated location.

Maybe I just think too much.

I may be wrong but I seem to recall that if you 1471 a payphone now, it's a pseudo-CLI and if you call it you get a recording telling you you were called from a payphone. You can still phone a payphone if you know the number that would be printed near the phone itself.

 

[krus_aragon]

Interesting. Having worked for BT DQ myself, I know there is no reverse look-up facility. You wouldn't even know which network it was.

If you go back far enough, before phone number porting, the first portion of the phone number would indicate which network's phone number it was. See Wikipedia.

 

[A-driver]

If you go back far enough, before phone number porting, the first portion of the phone number would indicate which network's phone number it was. See Wikipedia.

I was just going to say that-I suppose it didn't work now you can get a PAC code to move your nber between networks but I remember O2 used to be 07749 and orange was 07963/8.

 

[Roverman]

My number was originally Cellnet, BT Cellnet and then 02, its now EE ex Orange. For a long time Orange's own online account system couldn't cope with it because it was a non Orange number!

 

[starrymarkb]

Stupidest Question of Yesterday "When are the Christmas lights in London switched off?"

Stupidest Question of Today "Can you list and give phone numbers for all the service stations on the A1 - I may have left something at one"

 

[Lewisham2221]

Stupidest Question of Yesterday "When are the Christmas lights in London switched off?"

Pardon my ignorance, but why is that a stupid question?