Attention, please!

Afavourite resource for Tony Knight is Winnie-the-pooh. A train announcer at Wokingham, Mr Knight has time, if services are late, to recite extracts to commuters on the windy platform. If the delay is slight, he jocosely refers to it being late by a “cheeky three minutes”. Thousands of regular travellers have signed a petition supporting his cheery routine. Yet he must know that some early morning commuters will not be of his Tiggerish disposition, but share Eeyore’s outlook on life. Not that Mr Knight is an offender compared with many railway staff and train drivers, who daily imagine themselves auditioning for The X-factor, practising their beatbox skills and adding quips to announcements about incidents leading to late arrival. A microphone is a weapon that invites strict licensing.