‘Offensive’ Metrolink post not on right track

METROLINK has found itself under fire from hospitality staff after posting a tweet that suggested leisure and retail workers should travel at quieter times and ‘save space for those who need it most’.

The now-deleted tweet sparked a furious backlash from those with careers in the sectors, who said it implied they were ‘second class citizens’ who were ‘less worthy of travel’ than ‘important bankers and lawyers’.

Transport for Greater Manchester has since apologised for the post and said they fully support people who work in leisure, retail and hospitality.

A screenshot of the original tweet has been widely circulated by industry figures, who have called it ‘insulting’, ‘offensive’ and ‘disappointing’.

The post from the Metrolink account said: “If you work in leisure, hospitality or retail, please plan your commute. If you can, retime your journey and travel at quieter times.

“You’ll save space on public transport for those who need it most.”

Manchester brewery Beer Nouveau shared the post and wrote: “Leisure, hospitality and retail aren’t jobs with flexitime.

“We can’t say ‘You know what? Let’s open 10 to 6 today instead of 9 to 5.’ We can’t retime our journeys, we can’t work from home.

“And you think we don’t need it most?”

They later added: “If you’ve had a great night out tonight watching the England match, thank your bar staff, and ask @ Mcrmetrolink why they think we’re second class citizens who don’t deserve to travel on the trams along with everyone else?”

One person asked: “I work in retail and need the tram as my method of getting to work... do you think a large retail business is going to change their opening times so I can travel off peak? Who exactly needs it more then those who have to travel in for work?”

Apologising for the tweet, TFGM’S head of customer engagement Sean Dyball said: “TFGM plays an active role on social media, sending out hundreds of tweets to our customers every week, and unfortunately we sometimes get it wrong, as we did on this occasion.

“We fully support all those within the leisure, retail and hospitality sector - they play a vital role in people’s daily lives.

“It was absolutely not our intention to suggest otherwise or to cause offence and we’re sorry if it has.

“We have responded to the comments received and will take the feedback into account when creating future content.”