The wrong Peckham

[Shimbleshanks]

Email from a friend of mine in south-east London:

On a train from Lewisham to Victoria recently I earwigged a group of three smartly-dressed young adults: one of them was fiddling about on his smartphone and suddenly exclaimed: “Oh no!”. It transpired that they had set off from London earlier that day, heading for a meeting at East Peckham, a village near Yalding on the Medway Valley line. Correctly, they had changed at Strood, but asked a railway bod – who confidently sent them back to London. We were approaching Peckham Rye...

 

[Antman]

Email from a friend of mine in south-east London:

On a train from Lewisham to Victoria recently I earwigged a group of three smartly-dressed young adults: one of them was fiddling about on his smartphone and suddenly exclaimed: “Oh no!”. It transpired that they had set off from London earlier that day, heading for a meeting at East Peckham, a village near Yalding on the Medway Valley line. Correctly, they had changed at Strood, but asked a railway bod – who confidently sent them back to London. We were approaching Peckham Rye...

Oh dear, I have heard stories of those two locations getting mixed up before.

Another one I heard was somebody getting put on a Dover bound train at Victoria when they actually wanted Andover in Hampshire and should have changed at Clapham Junction

 

[PHILIPE]

When Wales played Belgium in the European Championships at Cardiff last Friday night, a bus of Belgian Football supporters ended up in a village named "Wales" near Rotherham after the input to Satnav.

 

[telstarbox]

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

 

[EM2]

With there not being a station at East Peckham (it being about two miles from both Yalding and Beltring), I wouldn't be surprised if the member of staff had never heard of it.

 

[Traveller54]

Another non rail related story. I was once at a meeting at a hotel in Symington, Ayrshire and an hour after it started, two guys arrived saying sorry, we went to Symington, by Biggar (Lanarkshire).

 

[Busaholic]

There are of course two Hayeses within Greater London, traditionally known as Hayes Kent and Hayes Middlesex : the latter is now officially known as Hayes and Harlington, but I bet it's still just Hayes to the locals. There are also two Bromleys in London but, as one has always been more significant than the other the other has always been Bromley-by-Bow in transport terms, which was just as well back in the day when you could board buses in Eltham High Street bound for either Bromley, from the same side of the street and even from the same stop!

Have got to say when I commuted from near Peckham (Hither Green) to near East Peckham (Maidstone West) I was never aware of any confusion. I had the 'luxury' of deciding whether to take a train via Dartford and Strood or Orpington and Paddock Wood twice a day, preferring the PW way but having to allow for it only being an hourly service on that leg, as opposed to half hourly to the delights of Strood, in case of missed connections. I'd sooner be in Stroud to Strood, but that's another matter!

 

[IanKR]

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.

 

[455driver]

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.

That one happens quite a lot!

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

 

[RichardN]

in case of missed connections. I'd sooner be in Stroud to Strood, but that's another matter!

Strood is no fun at all in the winter with a wind off the North sea. Incidentally, the area around East Peckham features some places that aren't pronounced at all intuitively.

Mereworth (pronounced Merry-worth)
Trottiscliffe (pronounced Troz-lee)
Wrotham (pronounced Root-ham)

It's a shame they don't have stations, as it would confuse the hell out of station staff.

 

[Pinza-C55]

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

 

[RichardN]

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

At Russell square a long while ago, overheard an American being sold a Ticket.

"Q. Where have you travelled from?"
"A. Euston"
"Lift operator issues ticket and tells him it would be faster to walk"
"..Oh sorry, I've come on the underground from Heathrow.."

 

[howittpie]

Many years ago a group of Americans at Golders Green bought ticket off the nat ex driver to Leicester and they really wanted Leicester Square. I believe a few tourists.have ended up in Oxford instead of Oxford Street on the coaches.

 

[oddiesjack]

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

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

 

[cool110]

There's also Swinton (South Yorks), Swinton (Manchester), Adlington (Cheshire) and Adlington (Lancs) all of which are run by Northern.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I have often wondered how many people turn up at Stoneleigh ( near Epsom ) while attempting to visit the agriultural show...

 

[EM2]

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

Working on the taxi rank one day, an elderly lady asked 'Do you think one of these drivers would take me to Oxford?'
'Do you mean Oxford Street?'
'No, to the city of Oxford.'
I asked the next driver, they agreed a price and off she went!

 

[thedbdiboy]

Strood is no fun at all in the winter with a wind off the North sea. Incidentally, the area around East Peckham features some places that aren't pronounced at all intuitively.

Mereworth (pronounced Merry-worth)
Trottiscliffe (pronounced Troz-lee)
Wrotham (pronounced Root-ham)

It's a shame they don't have stations, as it would confuse the hell out of station staff.

The last one does, as part of Borough Green & Wrotham...

 

[Pinza-C55]

The North Eastern Railway used to have stations called Stockton and Stockton On Forest, the latter on the rural York - Market Weighton line. Supposedly industrial magnates bound for Teesside would end up thinking how pretty Stockton was with all the trees and birds singing. It was later renamed Warthill.
The NER also had no less than four stations called Sherburn.

 

[plymothian]

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.

 

[30907]

I recall many years ago explaining to a caller that trains to Leeds went from King's Cross not Victoria. As you might guess, they wanted the rail and bus link to a top tourist attraction in the top tourist hotspot of Kent.

 

[Caertroia]

The south-eastern edge of London has two places called Green Street Green.

One is near Dartford https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place...2!3m1!1s0x47d8b3e62bfbb5c9:0x4bf29b48af7caf3e

and the other is near Orpington, about 14 miles away
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place...2!3m1!1s0x47d8aca9fe793b4d:0x145863fc98ad7f34

 

[leaffall]

Years ago in my HGV days I finished my days work and glanced at my paperwork for the next day and saw my first drop was in Hythe.

I set off bright and early next morning to drive from Newhaven to Hythe near Dover, drove up and down the High St twice looking for Superdrug but couldn't see it. Grabbed the paperwork to double check and my eyes fell on the word "Hampshire" underneath Hythe. I won't repeat what the boss said when I called to explain

 

[adrock1976]

How about the confusion of the international tourists with Hampton (Middlesex, TW postcode), Hampton Court (Surrey, KT postcode), and Hampton-in-Arden (Warwickshire/West Midlands, B postcode)?

Similarly, both Ashfords too (Middlesex and Kent).

 

[me123]

It's not just trains, as we've already seen. Granada/Grenada seems to be an all too common occurrence, as seen here. (Although the fact the a flight to Spain cost £2650pp should have probably triggered alarm bells!).

 

[Mutant Lemming]

I wonder how many 'Only Fools and Horses' fans travel to Peckham looking for Nelson Mandela House which was actually Harlech Tower on the South Acton estate.

 

[me123]

I wonder how many 'Only Fools and Horses' fans travel to Peckham looking for Nelson Mandela House which was actually Harlech Tower on the South Acton estate.

Probably not as many as travel to the wrong Abbey Road.

 

[scott118]

the wrong Yarmouth?

 

[wimbledonpete]

Again not railway related but we once had a book signing event with a TV celebrity in our Yeovil shop. Her security phoned up to say they'd arrived but couldn't find anyone - turned out they were at The Oval.

 

[deltic1989]

I've heard stories of people turning up round my way, and being disappointed to find we lack a large suspension bridge.