Next train will be arriving at platform woke!
Rail firm apologises for conductor’s ‘ladies and gentlemen’ greeting
A TRAIN company has come under fire for issuing a grovelling apology to a ‘ non- binary’ passenger who complained about a conductor who greeted travellers with the words ‘ladies and gentlemen’.
LNER promised to take action after responding to the tweet by the customer that they had felt excluded by the announcement.
But its response prompted a backlash, with the firm accused of being ‘ridiculous’ and pandering to ‘woke nonsense’.
The passenger, who uses the Twitter name Laurence, stated in their post: ‘“Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls...” so as a non-binary person this announcement doesn’t actually apply to me so I won’t listen @LNER.’ In reply, the rail operator said: ‘I’m really sorry to see this, Laurence, our Train Managers should not be using language like this, and I thank you for bringing it to my attention. Please could you let me know which service you are on and I will ensure they remain as inclusive as we strive to be at LNER.’
Non-binary people do not identify as male or female and use pronouns such as they and them rather than he or she.
In their profile ‘Laurence’ claims they are a gay and transsexual rights officer for a local London branch of the Labour Party and the rail workers’ union the RMT.
The apology by the LNER, which operates services on the East Coast Main Line between London King’s
‘Stop pandering to this nonsense’
Cross and the North East and Scotland, sparked a wave of criticism.
Mark Jenkinson, Tory MP for Workington, said: ‘You’d be forgiven for thinking this train manager had unleashed a tirade of abuse. He’d actually said, “Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls”. Identify however you like, but can we stop this nonsense?’
Broadcaster Julia Hartley-Brewer said: ‘Stop pandering to this nonsense. Your announcer said nothing wrong. Laurence’s complaint is ridiculous. No one was excluded or discriminated against. Just do your job of running trains on time and leave the woke politics to someone else with nothing better to do.’
Columnist Paul Embery added: ‘Utterly ridiculous. Do you have any idea how this kind of thing comes across to ordinary people?’
Others questioned what alternative terms should be used if train managers wanted to welcome their passengers ‘inclusively’.
One Twitter user said: ‘I am concerned that you say train managers should not be using language “like this”. Can you clarify please? Why are you asking the service this person was on? Do you intend telling the train manager that they are not to use normal language that everybody understands?’
Another added: ‘Well done LNER for sticking up for the Equality Act 2010, can I just ask what conductors are supposed to say though?’
LNER said in a statement yesterday: ‘We are committed to diversity and inclusion in all that we do for our customers, colleagues and communities, and encourage our on-board teams to welcome all customers.
‘Our policies and procedures are reviewed regularly and we will review if any further changes need to be made.’ The RMT union was contacted for comment.