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passenger confusion over trains going to similar sounding destinations

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pinkmarie80

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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.
When I was at university in Nottingham I often used to go to the ticket office at Nottingham station when I was going home and ask for a return to Newcastle. I was refused a return every time and when I asked why I was told ‘there’s no return fare as it’s too short a distance’ somewhat bemused I once asked why, and was told ‘Newark Castle is too short a distance’ when I explained that I actually wanted to go to Newcastle upon Tyne I was then sold the correct ticket but it was so infuriating as it happened every time!
 
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daveshah

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Not so applicable to passengers, but I wonder if the sidings at Toton and Totton have ever been muddled...
 
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I had a friend visit from Ohio in the US a few years back. We went to pick him up from Stafford station late in the evening. After not being able to find him anywhere in or around the station, we soon got a call from him asking if we were coming to get him. Found out he was in Stratford, not Stafford.

Thankfully, despite my initial fears of having to drive the 100 odd miles down the M40, he was in Stratford upon Avon and not the London one. We got him to Birmingham and sorted him out from there!
 

matt_world2004

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Work with a high amount of agency staff and wheneved there is a job in edgware there is always some that go edgware road.

Or Hayes(Kent) and middlsex is another one tbat causes drama.

Although not as bad as my supervisor driving to Heathrow Airport and ending up in portsmouth
 

Esker-pades

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Work with a high amount of agency staff and wheneved there is a job in edgware there is always some that go edgware road.

Or Hayes(Kent) and middlsex is another one tbat causes drama.

Although not as bad as my supervisor driving to Heathrow Airport and ending up in portsmouth
What's the confusion between Heathrow and Portsmouth?
 

matchmaker

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Not quite the same, but my wife knew that Glasgow to Aberdeen trains stopped at Stirling. Unfortunately, the day she was in Edinburgh shopping with my mum and our sons, she decided to get an Aberdeen train.

Even when our older son said "Mummy, why are we crossing the Forth Bridge?" she didn't twig!

The conductor was very understanding...
 

Dibuzz

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I wonder if anyone has got Appley Bridge (Wigan) confused with Apperley Bridge (Bradford)
 

SteveM70

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I used to live in Bradford on Avon and went out with a woman who lived in Bradford West Yorkshire. Every time I went to the station in BoA on a Friday and asked for a return to Bradford it flummoxed them
 

Springs Branch

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More a case of confusion due to misunderstanding than mis-hearing, but isn't there a steady trickle of tourists arriving at Abbey Road DLR station expecting to take selfies walking across a certain zebra crossing
 

DynamicSpirit

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More a case of confusion due to misunderstanding than mis-hearing, but isn't there a steady trickle of tourists arriving at Abbey Road DLR station expecting to take selfies walking across a certain zebra crossing

I've had a few friends ask about me living near that crossing when I told them that I live in Abbey WOOD!
 

geoffk

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Before the recent timetable changes trains for Nottingham and Knottingley called at Wakefield Kirkgate at a similar time each hour, from adjacent platforms. They are about 20 minutes apart now but still scope for confusion.
 

Mag_seven

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More a case of confusion due to misunderstanding than mis-hearing, but isn't there a steady trickle of tourists arriving at Abbey Road DLR station expecting to take selfies walking across a certain zebra crossing

I wonder if people turn up at Grange Hill on the Central line looking for the school? ;)
 
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Whisky Papa

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I was working at a station in the Stockport area a few years ago when a lady alighting from a train from Manchester came to the ticket window and asked me how to get to the local bus station. While English was clearly her second language, she was almost fluent. I replied that there was no proper bus station nearer than Stockport, but that there were fairly frequent buses on the main road at the top of the approach.
"No, no, I have looked it up. There is a bus to Alcester at xxxx."
Luckily, I know where Alcester is, and could send her back in the right direction.
Now, for ten points, which station was I working at?
 

rg177

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I was working at a station in the Stockport area a few years ago when a lady alighting from a train from Manchester came to the ticket window and asked me how to get to the local bus station. While English was clearly her second language, she was almost fluent. I replied that there was no proper bus station nearer than Stockport, but that there were fairly frequent buses on the main road at the top of the approach.
"No, no, I have looked it up. There is a bus to Alcester at xxxx."
Luckily, I know where Alcester is, and could send her back in the right direction.
Now, for ten points, which station was I working at?

One assumes Reddish North, when she thought she was at Redditch?
 

Whisky Papa

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One assumes Reddish North, when she thought she was at Redditch?

Well done, ten points.

She had a ticket to Reddish North, and had travelled from somewhere in the East End of London, quite possibly Barking. I printed her a covering letter and a route summary to get back to Redditch, although as this was early evening I had to tell her I doublted she would get a bus by the time she got there. I trust she did, and was able to sort out the incorrect ticket eventually, as obviously she had paid quite a bit more than she need have done.

The other thing about Reddish North which is just about relevant to ths thread was the steady stream of passengers alighting from the New Mills Central/Sheffield trains that left Piccadilly at xx45 who thought they were going to Huddersfield/Leeds/Hull. The TPE service left the same platform at xx42, and despite several strategies to make it clear which train was which, there were often a few stragglers - more on Saturdays or holiday periods, noticeably.
 

Dhassell

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Quite a few people have got off at Pilning expecting Patchway... Luckily most realise their mistake before its too late.
 

glynmonhughes

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I was once accompanying a singer at a wedding (I am a musician, amongst other things) and had scheduled a rehearsal. She did not appear, as expected at Chester. She was tracked down and told us she was in Birmingham. Turns out she had gone to Chester Road between New Street and Sutton Coldfield. She did get to the wedding, at about the halfway point, and two hours later than our original appointment and we did what we were supposed to do, but it was completely unrehearsed.
 

Grumbler

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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.
Simplest solution is just to rename "London Liverpool Street" as "London Bishopsgate" or "London Anglia" - or anything else which is unambiguous.
I have heard a story that RAF Coltishall receieved that name during WW2 rather than Buxton to avoid servicemen mistakenly getting trains to the town in Derbyshire.
 

VT 390

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I wonder if anyone has got Appley Bridge (Wigan) confused with Apperley Bridge (Bradford)
Not so much confused but I did almost buy the wrong ticket to Appley Bridge as the auto fill changed it to Apperley Bridge and it was only when it got to the journey times I noticed.
 

MontyP

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I still can't get used to announcers announcing 'Ashford Surrey'. For people above a certain age (and no doubt for quite a few under), Ashford is in Middlesex.

When did it change from Ashford (Middlese) to Ashford (Surrey)? I can't say I'd noticed this until today despite travelling through Waterloo most days!
 

mlambeuk

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Blackburn you have trains calling at Mills hill (bound for Rochdale) and Mill Hill (bound for Preston).
Cumbrian coast line you have Dalston and Dalton on the same route.
 

eisenach

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Many years ago, my aged aunt, travelling from Leeds to Leominster (Hfds) was put on a train at Manchester Picadilly to ... Leicester. She hadn't a clue she was on the wrong train and anyway, she had no phone. As train after train arrived in Leominster without my aunt, we were beginning to panic! We eventually had a call from New Street saying she was boarding a train to Shrewsbury. I told her to stay put there, and drove to Shrewsbury to pick her up.
 

swt_passenger

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When did it change from Ashford (Middlese) to Ashford (Surrey)? I can't say I'd noticed this until today despite travelling through Waterloo most days!
It should have been in 1965, but I think it only changed on signage about ten years ago?
 

Essexman

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Aldersgate & Aldgate must have been very confusing. Hence the former was changed to Barbican.
 

TFN

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It should have been in 1965, but I think it only changed on signage about ten years ago?

Ashford Middlesex became Ashford Surrey when Celia was replaced with Anne at Waterloo. In terms of onboard announcements, the 458s only mentions Ashford but the 707s say Ashford Surrey.
 

richieb1971

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Was doing a bit of filming at Cheddington. A 350 pulls in and one solitary guy gets off. He notices the place is surrounded by fields and comes up to me and says "Where is Chessington Park from here?"

I replied "Its a way further than you think" pointing in the direction he just came from.
 

Horizon22

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Once had a group of young lads turn up to Victoria asking to go to Rainham but something didn't seem right and watched their mouths drop after looking at tickets and told them they needed Fenchurch Street for the (Essex) not (Kent) version!
 

urbophile

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More a case of confusion due to misunderstanding than mis-hearing, but isn't there a steady trickle of tourists arriving at Abbey Road DLR station expecting to take selfies walking across a certain zebra crossing
You get tourists arriving in Liverpool expecting to find Abbey Road (of which there is one, but not that one).
 

duncanp

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I wonder if anyone has confused Redbridge (London Underground) with Redbridge (near Southampton)

Other stations which also have the same name as a tube station are Monument (Tyne & Wear metro) and St Pauls (Midland Metro)

There is also St Johns (near Lewisham) and St Johns Wood (Jubilee Line)

Not to mention Acton Bridge (Cheshire) with the 7 different stations in London that have Acton in their names.
 
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