passenger confusion over trains going to similar sounding destinations

Ken H said:

Evidently people get off at Intl, then start looking for the shops!

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Resorts World!

A few I've had over the years:
I'd taken over at Rugby checked tickets got to a lady travelling from Chester to Shenfield, she had been to Euston trying to get to Liverpool Street must have asked for Liverpool and ended up back in Tamworth!

Late one night a guy arrived at Hartford, said it looked a bit different to last time. He had wanted Hertford East.

Another young lad had bought an advance from London to Chester Road changing at Lichfield. Asked me how far the walk was from Chester Road into Chester!! He thought he had a bargain and as was cheaper than to Chester he would walk the rest of the way. Quite why he never checked is beyond me!!

Some Chinese tourists once came from Birmingham to Stafford, thought nothing of it until the ly asked for William Shakespeare. Theyd been to the ticket office at New Street and been given tickets and itineraries for Stafford rather than Stratford

I would guess tourists get the two Stratfords mixed up, especially as there's a fairly well-known theatre near the London one as well (maybe they can go there instead if they end up at the wrong station?)

I know of one lady who caught the Cheltenham train from Paddington heading for Stroud, unfortunately it was Strood in Kent she was actually trying to get to!

There is plenty of scope for trouble at Leeds.

Passenger enquiring whether this is the train to Bradford are often confused when i ask "which Bradford, Interchange or Forster Square?" (By far the safest question to ask passengers is "where are you going to?")

Similarly, if they ask for the Sheffield train, I always check where they are actually going as there are four options: express and stopper via Wakefield Westgate, fast-ish via Wakefield Kirkgate, and stopper via Castleford (and also Kirkgate). The stopper to Kirkgate leaves 8 minutes before the fast service from the same platform.

Genuine confusion can arise on platform 17 every hour, as the train to Knottingley departs a few minutes ahead of the Nottingham service. Looks fine on paper but spoken these very different destinations sound very similar.

I once had a chap who had bought a ticket at Glasgow Central wanted to go to Norwich. They'd sold him a ticket and itenary to Northwich and he hadn't noticed. Luckily he was on the Liverpool - Norwich train from Warrington intending to leave for 'his' connection at Stockport so I was able to sort him out. He remarked that he thought it was a bit cheaper than it should have been.

You'd like to think if he was on a train for his intended destination he'd smell a rat when the itinerary told him to change onto another one. Perhaps he thought that train was going to Northwich?

edwin_m said:

I would guess tourists get the two Stratfords mixed up, especially as there's a fairly well-known theatre near the London one as well (maybe they can go there instead if they end up at the wrong station?)

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That is a quite well known problem.
If you search YouTube you will find a lot of videos on tips for tourists. One for Americans is that we don't drop the word "Street" when referring to a street name*.

*OK I do know of an exception in Oxford but a definite article is added instead and there is no potential railway confusion. (High Street - The High)

Seeing the mention of Birmingham UK and Birmingham Alabama reminded me of a time I was in the check in queue at Chicago O Hare Airport for Birmingham UK and was sharing the queue with several passengers for Birmingham Alabama. Luckily they were soon redirected.

Also I was once buying a ticket at Nuneaton station for Attenborough, and the clerk produced a ticket to Attleborough, which was much more expensive. Certainly much more than I was expecting to pay, so the error was soon spotted!

bnsf734 said:

Also I was once buying a ticket at Nuneaton station for Attenborough, and the clerk produced a ticket to Attleborough, which was much more expensive. Certainly much more than I was expecting to pay, so the error was soon spotted!

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Had the Attleborough/Attenborough confusion myself recently. In this case I wanted the former, but refused to buy as the ticket was much more expensive than I was expecting. Neither the clerk nor I spotted he'd input Attenborough (I worked it out afterwards in brfares). I was at a station other than the one I was going to depart from and we both just assumed he couldn't see the full range of tickets for that particular journey for some reason.

Tourist travelling on a Valley Lines train to Rhymney a couple of years ago wanting to go to Aberystwyth. Aber is the station after Caerphilly. Fortunately he conductor put him right just after Queen Street.
Conductor commented it was not the first such confusion she had encountered.

Going back quite some time now (must be about 15+ years), I got off the train at Stoke-on-Trent only to hear two passengers who had got off the same train asking the station staff which way it was to the centre of Stratford-upon-Avon.....

Stansted Mountfitchet & Stansted Airport. Both the next stop after Bishops Stortford but on different services, Mountfitchet being the Cambridge train. Usually 2 minutes between the trains on the same platform. The little shop outside mountfitchet station had a direct taxi phone, to get people who are panicking they are going to miss there flight, to the Airport.

extendedpaul said:

Tourist travelling on a Valley Lines train to Rhymney a couple of years ago wanting to go to Aberystwyth. Aber is the station after Caerphilly. Fortunately he conductor put him right just after Queen Street.
Conductor commented it was not the first such confusion she had encountered.

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When I was at UCW (as it was then) everybody referred to Aberystwyth simply as Aber. I had certainly come across instances of friends or family of my contemporaries thinking that it was the actual name of the town.

PeterC said:

Also I was once buying a ticket at Nuneaton station for Attenborough, and the clerk produced a ticket to Attleborough, which was much more expensive. Certainly much more than I was expecting to pay, so the error was soon spotted!

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Perhaps thinking of the part of Nuneaton known as Attleborough, which has no station of its own.

Amanda said:

Going back quite some time now (must be about 15+ years), I got off the train at Stoke-on-Trent only to hear two passengers who had got off the same train asking the station staff which way it was to the centre of Stratford-upon-Avon.....

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They were in for a hell of a shock !

Liverpool Street has services to Cambridge and Cambridge Heath, which are nowhere near each other.

Then there is

• St Margarets (Hertford East branch) and St Margarets (near Twickenham)
• Bentley (South Yorkshire) and Bentley (Hampshire)
• Earlswood (West Midlands) and Earlswood (Surrey)

Next station down the line from Earlswood (West Midlands) is The Lakes. Not sure if anyone has arrived here expecting to find the Lake District.

Recently at East Croydon I asked for a day return to Amberley, but got sold a ticket for Camberley. The price wasn't much different.

duncanp said:

Liverpool Street has services to Cambridge and Cambridge Heath, which are nowhere near each other.

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At least with these 2 different operators serve each route so it is less likely that you would get the wrong one.

duncanp said:

Liverpool Street has services to Cambridge and Cambridge Heath, which are nowhere near each other.

Then there is

• St Margarets (Hertford East branch) and St Margarets (near Twickenham)

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St. Margarets (on the Hertford Line) is actually in Stanstead Abbotts, but was presumably not named as such to avoid confusion with the other Stansted (Mountfitchet), which was plain "Stansted" until the airport station opened.

Here at Dore & Totley we have a single platform from which you can board direct trains to all stations towards Norwich, Liverpool, Cleethorpes or Manchester Airport - although the majority only go to Sheffield or Piccadilly. If booking a westward journey to Piccadilly or beyond you may be routed to go into Sheffield on the slow Northern train to come back out again, usually on the faster TPE for the Airport.

As the stopping train coming east will be announced as going to Sheffield some will let it go and wait, and wait, for the train they expect to catch at the same time going west. On one platform there can't be one so it doesn't arrive. The next train they'll usually see will be the TPE Airport train powering through without stopping before they have to catch the stopping service on its return journey to Piccadilly, slowly.

About 10.00 this morning I was at the ticket machine (not working) and a young man was loitering in the back corner with earphones in, earnestly working away on his phone. I exchanged a few words with other passengers, called Northern faults and they rebooted the machine. He must have twigged I knew a little about railways.

Seems he'd gone to Piccadilly to get his usual train to go to work at the Airport. Must have been half asleep and/or too engrossed with his phone, but caught the train for Cleethorpes by mistake. Oops! But he didn't notice through the grey morning and rain spotted windows until it didn't terminate at the Airport as usual but pulled out of Stokport and he started seeing a lot of green fields with hills and sheep. Oh dear, going to be late to work today!

Next plan, get off at next station, Sheffield, and return. Oops, this seems to have been the only morning TPE that stops eastbound at 8.04 at Dore, and it did. Confused he appears to have wandered out of the station looking for another platform - and missed the 8.14 to get back! Strange as it was late, but stranger still he didn't catch the 9.21 stopper either.

Hopefully he got to work by lunchtime after catching the 10.21 to experience the steamed up Pacer experience back through the Hope Valley, earphones still in, and tapping away on the keyboard throughout

He did have a pass for travel in Manchester. Maybe he was some sort of spy?!!

I've had a few people with different accents say Horley like Crawley and vice versa.

Now I make sure I repeat it as clearly as possible so the passenger has a chance to correct me.

TFN said:

I've had a few people with different accents say Horley like Crawley and vice versa.

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Its a good job that Gatwick wasn't called Horley, otherwise there would have been flights from Horley to Orly.

sd0733 said:

Late one night a guy arrived at Hartford, said it looked a bit different to last time. He had wanted Hertford East.

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I almost (noticed the price difference) got sold a ticket to the wrong one, but they are pronounced the same way. Would have been a very expensive day out!

Stampy said:

I've seen it happen myself a few years back...

Was on a train from Norwich back to Peterborough, and 3 times before departure there was an announcement to the effect of:-

"This is the xxxx train to LIVERPOOL LIME STREET, the train to LONDON LIVERPOOL STREET is on the next platform"

However, just after leaving Norwich, a "snooty" elderly couple stood up and asked "Does this train go to London??"

Somebody said, "NO, Liverpool Lime Street - it was announced 3 times"

Then then collared the guard (who was on his/her way down the train checking tickets) - and DEMANDED that the train reverse so they could get off....

They were advised to get off at Thetford, cross the road and catch the Cambridge-Norwich train BACK into Norwich and get on the RIGHT train!!!

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Perhaps it would have been more intelligent for them to announce "This is the xxxx train to LIVERPOOL, the train to LONDON is on the next platform". It is not as if you have a choice of London stations to travel to directly from there.

Once at York late in the evening and 2 passengers on their way to Newcastle upon Tyne and they should have gone to Newcastle under Lyme near Stoke on Trent.

I've had passengers going to Leicester instead of Leicester Square before. Usually can turf them at Luton, but if its peak time they've got a long round trip if we're non stop. I know Newark Castle and New Castle have cause issues before too, especially where they are depending on the PA and not the CIS display.

Young race jockey many years ago missed a winner, bought a ticket to Bangor, but the racecourse is in Bangor On Dee near Wrexham...

sd0733 said:

Late one night a guy arrived at Hartford, said it looked a bit different to last time. He had wanted Hertford East.

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When I was lad doing a stint in the Travel Centre at Birmingham New St, a lady asked for train times. When I said she needed to travel via London she looked aghast and I immediately sussed that she wanted Cheshire not Hertfordshire. Fortunately she knew where she was going and we had a laugh about it .... certainly made sure I asked more questions when hearing an ambiguous place name from then on.

sheff1 said:

When I was lad doing a stint in the Travel Centre at Birmingham New St, a lady asked for train times. When I said she needed to travel via London she looked aghast and I immediately sussed that she wanted Cheshire not Hertfordshire. Fortunately she knew where she was going and we had a laugh about it .... certainly made sure I asked more questions when hearing an ambiguous place name from then on.

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Talking of Hartford: A couple of weeks ago, while travelling from Abbey Wood to Charing Cross, I got talking to the lady sat next to me. She had apparently travelled all the way from Stratford-on-Avon towards Dartford before realising somewhere around Slade Green that she was supposed to be going to Hartford (the Cheshire one) - and was now heading back home. She said that once she got home to Stratford (on-Avon) she'd leave trying to get to Hartford for another day. She was very philosophical about the experience!