Press release -
Passengers enjoy 125mph humour
Passengers travelling on Virgin Trains’ London to Glasgow service have made history after sitting through the world’s first 125mph rail comedy gig.Around 100 customers were treated to high-speed gags delivered by seven of the UK’s top comic performers after boarding the 2.30pm train from Euston on Thursday.The special Comedy Express was arranged following a deal with the Glasgow International Comedy Festival which entitles audiences to 20% off Virgin Trains’ Advance fares when travelling to Glasgow.The one-off gig was hosted by Bruce Devlin, and featured Patrick Monahan, John Hastings, Damian Clark, Jojo Sutherland, Ray Bradshaw and John Gavin – all of whom are playing during the comedy festival, which runs from March 14 to April 5.Passengers were treated to free cocktails designed by experts Tails Cocktails and served by Virgin Trains' onboard staff.The night was finished off in style with a champagne reception for the comedians held by Glasgow Malmaison.Sarah Watson, festival manager, said: “This is easily one of the most unusual gigs we’ve been involved with but the comedians and the audience were absolutely up for it. From getting the sound levels in the carriage right through to timing the comedians’ sets to coincide with station stops it was a technically challenging event to arrange but it all went off without a hitch.”Adrian Varma, partnerships manager for Virgin Trains, added: “This was an absolutely magical experience and we’re delighted with how it turned out. We want to delight and surprise our customers and this proved a great way of doing just that.“We’re really up for trying out new things on our services so watch this space for future events!”
More information about the Glasgow International Comedy Festival can be found at www.glasgowcomedyfestival.com or on Twitter at #gicf.
Find out how to get 20% off Virgin Trains' Advance fares to Glasgow for groups of up to 9 people at www.virgintrains.com/comedy-festival.
For further information, contact the Virgin Trains Press Office: 0845 000 3333.
Notes to Editors
- The Glasgow International Comedy Festival was established in 2003 and is now entering its twelfth year. - The Glasgow International Comedy Festival is supported by main funder, Glasgow City Marketing Bureau. - The festival is organised by the Scottish Comedy Agency, a sister company of Salt’n’Sauce Promotions Ltd, which owns and operates the highly successful Stand Comedy Clubs in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Newcastle. - Tickets for all shows are available via the respective venue’s own box offices, direct from ticketSOUP.com on 0844 395 4005. - register at glasgowcomedyfestival.com for all the latest news and follow on Twitter @glasgowcomedy
Topics
- Art, Culture, Entertainment
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Virgin Trains has
revolutionised rail travel by creating a high speed, high frequency service
that has cut journey times and made rail journeys more comfortable. It has
operated the West Coast passenger train franchise since 1997, serving key UK
cities including London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Preston and
Glasgow.
Virgin Trains is the brand name of Virgin Rail Group (VRG), which is owned 51 percent by Virgin Group and 49 percent by Stagecoach. The Department for Transport (DfT) has awarded VRG a franchise contract, which started on 9 December 2012 and was initially due to run for up to 23 months. The Transport Secretary announced on 26 March 2013 that it will be extended until April 2017, when a new long-term West Coast franchise is expected to start.
Virgin Trains has been recognised in numerous awards. In October 2013 Business Traveller magazine readers voted the company the Best UK Domestic Rail Operator for the seventh year running. In 2011 the company was named Best Rail Operator in the Group Leisure Awards (which it also won in 2009 and 2010). In 2011 Virgin Trains won the British Quality Foundation's Achievement Award for Customer Satisfaction.
Customers consistently rate the company the top long-distance rail franchise operator, as measured by the National Passenger Survey (NPS) run by industry watchdog Passenger Focus. In the most recent NPS (Autumn 2013) overall satisfaction was 91%, meaning the company has remained unbeaten over nine successive surveys in the long-distance franchise category.
Virgin Trains was awarded certification to the internationally recognised ISO 14001 Environmental Management System standard in January 2014.
Virgin Trains first achieved Investors In People accreditation in 2007 and this was renewed in 2010; the IIP Gold award was achieved in 2011 and again in October 2013. In May 2013 Virgin Trains renewed its accreditation against the criteria of the European Foundation for Quality Management's (EFQM) Excellence Model, which it originally achieved in May 2011. The company’s Learning and Development team won a National Training Awards 2011 West Midlands award for its Coaching Culture programme.
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