The wrong Peckham

[dysonsphere]

Bedford collage used to be a favorite, it was in Regents Park London many are the poor crews plp etc who went to Bedford Herts lol

 

[DarloRich]

Bedford collage used to be a favorite, it was in Regents Park London many are the poor crews plp etc who went to Bedford Herts lol

is Bedford not in Bedfordhsire?Where they doubly confused?

 

[DeeGee]

There's a pair of Ulcebys in Northern Lincolnshire. Both in what used to be Lindsey. They're about 30 miles apart and only one has a station.

Nearby is the village of Alford, where my friend runs the Jolly Friar Fish and Chip shop. He once got a call from a Scottish fellow to say that he'd be passing by in 20 minutes, could he have a fish supper ready?

20 minutes passed, another phone call "Where are you, I can't find the Jolly Friar anywhere". A discussion followed at which point it became obvious that the chap had just googled for a fish and chip shop in Alford and got confused by what he saw, phoning one in Alford Lincs instead of Alford Aberdeenshire.

 

[CaptainHaddock]

I remember once going to the ticket office at Birmingham with a heavy cold to ask for a ticket to Norwich and got sold one to Dorridge instead.

 

[DeeGee]

I remember once going to the ticket office at Birmingham with a heavy cold to ask for a ticket to Norwich and got sold one to Dorridge instead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhnKjR0ESPs

 

[jp4712]

Many years ago, there was a well-documented (it made the Manchester Evening News) case at Piccadilly station, when a group of Australians asked for tickets to '"Loo-ga-berroo". After much scratched of heads, the ticket office bod asked to see the piece of paper they were referring to, to find... Loughborough.

 

[DarloRich]

Many years ago, there was a well-documented (it made the Manchester Evening News) case at Piccadilly station, when a group of Australians asked for tickets to '"Loo-ga-berroo". After much scratched of heads, the ticket office bod asked to see the piece of paper they were referring to, to find... Loughborough.

I have heard the same story but with about every large station mentioned. It must be apocryphal!

 

[Stampy]

I caught a train back from Yarmouth (Great not the one on the Isle of Wight) just over a week ago - and after changing trains at Norwich was sat on the train to Liverpool Lime Street..

After at least FIVE announcements that ".... This train is for Liverpool LIME STREET and NOT London Liverpool Street... That train leaves from Platform 3 which is adjacent to this one"

Cue 20 or so minutes later, as the train pulls into Thetford - 2 couples asking the guard what time this train arrives in London!!!

They got off at Ely, muttering that they'd now have to change at Cambridge to get to see their friends who were waiting at Liverpool Street!!!

 

[Marvin]

back in the day in Year 9, (I went to school in Acton, west London) a schoolmate trying to buy a ticket to Northfields on the Piccadilly line to get home, bought a ticket to Southfields (near Wimbledon) instead :roll:

At least he didn't end up at Northfield (SW Birmingham)!

 

[nottsnurse]

A friend was once invited to a wedding in Gillingham. She was told the name of the church and directions from the station. At first, the directions seemed to work - they pointed her to a church, but not the one with the right name. After a hasty phone call she realised that she’d gone to Gillingham (pronounced “Jillingham”) in Kent, rather than Gillingham (hard G) in Dorset. She got there in time for the evening knees-up.

When I was in the RAF we had two fuel tanker drivers go to Gillingham, Dorset rather than Brompton Barracks, Gillingham, Kent.

We'd all set off in convoy from RAF Stafford, with the tankers due to peel off on the M40 and go via RAF Brize Norton to pick up fuel, then follow on to Brompton Barracks.

Yes, the hapless slammers did get stick and brought a few rounds at the bar, but the worst bit was that if they'd followed the maps and convoy plans provided it shouldn't have happened. Unfortunately one of the slammers thought he knew better, having been brought up near Gillingham, Dorset, and chose to follow his knowledge rather than the plan. With his 'local knowledge' you'd have thought he would have known there isn't a Brompton Barracks around there!!

 

[JohnB57]

Slightly oblique but true nevertheless.

Back in 1975 at a college interview in Kingston upon Thames, a guy ran in at the last minute. It turned out that on arrival at Paddington, he'd asked which station he needed for Kingston and was told to take the tube to Kings Cross, which in all innocence he did. Fortunately, at KX he was redirected to "upon Thames" rather than "upon Hull".

 

[swt_passenger]

Wonder if anyone has ever confused Dalston, London with Dalston, Cumbria?

When I mentioned it to an LO bod at West Croydon a few days after opening he thought I was pulling his leg... He'd absolutely no idea that there could be a Dalston somewhere else.

 

[181]

My father once asked for a ticket to Benfleet in the booking office at Surbiton, and it wasn't until it was checked somewhere on the LT&S that he realised he'd been sold one to Bentley (Hants). I think it was all sorted out satisfactorily.

Away from the railways, one hears of people going to the wrong Dorchester. Supposedly a wedding once had to be postponed because the bride had gone to Dorset and the groom to Oxfordshire (or vice versa), although I suspect that one may have grown in the telling.

 

[CarltonA]

People living in Burnham on Sea, Somerset have a habit of asking for Burnham station (meaning Highbridge and Burnham), which is of course in Buckinghamshire.

In fact the station has not been in Bucks for forty years. It is actually near the Slough (Berks) suburb of Cippenham, which if so named would cause no end of problems being on the GWML. Burnham village is a mile or so away over the county border. Originally the station was called Burnham Beeches, after the woodland area even further away.

 

[satisnek]

Another is people turning up at Alton and asking for the adventure park!

Back in BR days when one Kidderminster-Alton via London ticket was both the obvious and cheapest option (nowadays separate tickets Kidder - Worcester, Worcester - North Camp and Ash Vale - Alton work out best) I went for a day out on the Mid-Hants. On the Euston service out of New Street this rather dim guard checked my ticket and informed me that I was on the wrong train. I sat there in confused silence until, after a few seconds he exclaimed "Ah, you're going to Alton Towers!" :roll:

Then there was the person in the London area who wanted to go to 'Northwood'. The final leg of their journey was from Kidderminster Town SVR. You can guess the rest.

On a local level and nothing to do with railways, but it always tickled my late mother, one time back in the 1990s I was in town and a lorry driver asked me the way to 'Summerfield'. So I directed him to the Royal Ordnance rocket factory (now Roxel UK) off the Worcester Road to the south of the town. After this I walked on a bit further and noticed that the erstwhile Kwik-Save store was now 'Somerfield'. Ah.

 

[garose]

Three similar sounding destinations which caused occasional confusement back in my BR days were Wrexham, Hexham and Wroxham. Very often by visitors from over the Atlantic landing at Heathrow! Sadly not much help when they arrived at Wrexham on the last train of the night, expecting to visit Hadrian's Wall. Hope they enjoyed Offa's Dyke instead.

 

[RichardN]

I was at Clapham Junction, when a young Spanish lady asked me where the trains for Barnet went from. She mistook my look of confusion "how on earth do I explain it and does she mean New or High?" and luckily showed me her ticket to Barnes before I gave her some really bad advice...

 

[yorksrob]

Three similar sounding destinations which caused occasional confusement back in my BR days were Wrexham, Hexham and Wroxham. Very often by visitors from over the Atlantic landing at Heathrow! Sadly not much help when they arrived at Wrexham on the last train of the night, expecting to visit Hadrian's Wall. Hope they enjoyed Offa's Dyke instead.

In the good old days there would have been Wroxall on the Isle of Wight to contend with as well!

 

[trainophile]

When I was new to Liverpool and the surrounding area, I was puzzled by Kirkby and West Kirby. Having since been to both, I love the latter and go there frequently, but once was enough for the former! A mile long hike from the station to what passes for the town centre, and not much there when you get there.

 

[grumblingalong]

On a slight tangent I have great fun with travellers to Diss. "I need to go to Diss" "This what"? Or "I need a ticket to Diss" "no need sir the toilets on board are free".

 

[matthewluck]

A somewhat different situation, I was travelling between Sheffield and Manchester on TPE. During the ticket check a passenger was found with a St Pancras to Hatfield single and they were intending to travel to Hadfield.

The passenger was clearly being dishonest, claiming that he stated the correct destination at the booking office and was in no way surprised at the cheap price of £9! He refused to pay and was met by BTP at Piccadilly

 

[Carlisle]

Or Bootle or Kirby on Merseyside instead of their Cumbrian namesakes?

Dalston and Bootle agreed, but the Cumbrian kirby is mostly shown as Kirby in Furness so shouldn't cause much confusion

 

[BurtonM]

And Kirkby Stephen?

 

[DelayRepay]

A comedian had to cancel a show in Hertford (Herts) because he went to Hereford by mistake.

Not railway related but I once had a colleague who should have gone to an address on Glossop Road, Sheffield. She was only travelling from Hillsborough and phoned me asking if it normally took so long. I commented that the traffic could sometimes be bad which prompted the response that she wasn't stuck in traffic, she was making her way through the Peak District - following signs for Glossop!

One of my Geographically inept friends was coming to visit me in St Albans and ended up in St Neots. It was all going well until he got to London where his journey planner told him to get the tube to Kings Cross/St Pancras. He followed this instruction but then went to the wrong mainline station and appears to have caught the first train going to "St Anywhere". It could have been worse as he could have ended up in St Andrews, I guess.

 

[DeeGee]

A somewhat different situation, I was travelling between Sheffield and Manchester on TPE. During the ticket check a passenger was found with a St Pancras to Hatfield single and they were intending to travel to Hadfield.

The passenger was clearly being dishonest, claiming that he stated the correct destination at the booking office and was in no way surprised at the cheap price of £9! He refused to pay and was met by BTP at Piccadilly

Clearly being dishonest? Really? I can get an £11 single ticket from Brighton to Liverpool, and a £9 single from St Pancras to Sheffield. Why should I not presume that £9 St Pancras to Hadfield is not an appropriate fare? Especially as, having bought at the ticket office before boarding the train, I have technically bought "in Advance".

I ask for a ticket. I get sold a ticket. I leave the ticket office and get on the train. Why should I then be arrested for it?

 

[JoeGJ1984]

I've heard of confusion in my local paper between Donnington, a suburb of Telford and Donington Park, Derbyshire (neither have a railway station though).

 

[High Dyke]

I've heard of confusion in my local paper between Donnington, a suburb of Telford and Donington Park, Derbyshire (neither have a railway station though).

And Donington (Lincolnshire), which used to have a railway station.

A regular issue near me is lorry drivers searching for Lenton and ending up in rural Lincolnshire instead of the suburbs of Nottingham.

 

[Envy123]

It's funny, actually.

A friend of mine decided to reserve a table at Alla Turca near Charing Cross station. When he got there, he found out that it wasn't in London at all but in Glasgow!

He explained his mistake to the restaurant and promised to himself that when he becomes super rich to afford to go to Glasgow, he would go there.

 

[damo44]

I used to work on the Underground and tourists would frequently ask for stations with double barreled names by the first name only so Americans would say "excuse me sir can you tell how to get to Lie-sester ?" (Leicester Square) or "Oxford" (Oxford Circus). If you were in a bad mood you could have a lot of fun with them

It shouldn't really be that difficult a concept for Americans should it?

I mean if they went along to a transport hub in New York would they just ask for Washington (if they wanted to go to Washington Square North) and be surprised to arrive in Washington DC or somewhere near Seattle? Or just ask for Pennsylvania if in Washington DC and be surprised that they were bound for the state of the same name and not dropped off opposite the White House?

 

[kevconnor]

A number of years ago I was working in the recruitment team for a company. we were based in Manchester but the company had sites all over the UK including a largish office in Stratford, East London. My colleague was advertising for a role there, wasn't hugely paid £19k ish, and was at an entry level position. Anyway on the day of the interviews we receive a call from one of the candidates asking for directions to the office when he got off the tram. After some more delving it turned out he had spent circa £100+ to travel from Ilford, travelled through Stratford and kept on going to Manchester ending up at the Metrolink stop at Stretford.