On the last Virgin (in those days) train from Euston to Liverpool Lime Street (2107), we were joined at Crewe by a man and woman who announced that they'd like some refreshments. They were told that the refreshment service had finished as we would soon be arriving. "But it's well over an hour before we get to Euston," said the woman. The steward told her that we were going to Liverpool. "Why is that?" she asked. "This is the kind of train that goes to London." She was informed that they do go in both directions, surprisingly. She told her companion that it was alright, they'd just get another train back when they arrived in Liverpool. I could not resist wading in and telling them that the last train for that day had well gone and then next one was around 5.30am. "We could go to Manchester, then," she suggested. "It's much the same story there," I told her. The rest of the conversation centred around finding a hotel for the night. Plenty of choice in Liverpool, of course. I'd be horrified to know what the "walk-up" rate would have been. And quite a funny story to tell their boss the next day when they arrived in late, having spent the night in a hotel in Liverpool. Having said that, there are plenty of on-platform destination displays as well as the on-door display on Pendolinos. And rather a lot of sniggering from passengers in the carriage who delighted in ostentatiously rearranging their empty sandwich packs, miniatures of spirits and mixers . . .
There was another occasion, which was not a massive over-carry but one which would make the publicity people wonder why they bother. When the Wirral Line of Merseyrail was having refurbishments to the underground stations in Liverpool city centre, each station was closed in turn for a few months. Posters went up at all stations, there were on-platform announcements and on-train announcements. When the work was under way, an announcement was made that this train "will not be stopping at Lime Street". Passengers were informed that they could alight at Moorfields where there was a connecting bus service or at Liverpool Central where the station is a short walk away. At Moorfields, the announcement was made again. A family group had been deep in conversation, laughing, shouting and, really, making rather a nuisance of themselves. They then got up to alight at Lime Street, only to see the platform appear and then disappear. 'Oh my God," shrilled one of them. "It's not stopped. What do we do now? Why didn't anyone say?" Several people pointed to the posters on the train and to the dot-matrix display. The response from the offended party? "Well, that's not my fault."