Press release -
Passengers stunned as comedian Tim Vine takes over tannoy on Virgin Train
- Impromptu onboard performance from award-winning comedian
- King of one-liners Tim Vine says his “career has peaked” after onboard routine
- Virgin’s train manager Darren Jones spotted the celeb and invited him to perform
Virgin Trains customers have been treated to an impromptu onboard performance by one-liner legend Tim Vine.
The award-winning comedian delivered a five-minute set over the tannoy of the Euston to Manchester service after being invited to share some gags by Train Manager Darren Jones.
After announcing himself as “your onboard comedian”, Tim followed up with a series of quips, including: “I said to this bloke I’d like to find out when the next train from London to Glasgow is. He said why don’t you look online? I said it’s a bit dangerous isn’t it?”
After the set, the comedian said his “career had peaked” and was cheered by fellow passengers as he returned to his seat.
Train Manager Darren Jones asked the comedian if he wanted to make an announcement shortly after checking his ticket.
He said: “When I asked for his ticket, I immediately recognised him and we had brief chat. I asked if he was up for doing an announcement. It turns out he’s always wanted to do it and accepted the challenge straight away. It made me really laugh. As he walked through a few people said: ‘Nice one Tim.’ There was great feedback.”
Topics
- Art, Culture, Entertainment
Categories
- fun stuff
About Virgin Trains
Stagecoach and Virgin are working in partnership to operate the West Coast inter-city route under the Virgin Trains brand, revolutionising travel on one of the UK’s key rail arteries.
The network connects some of the nation’s most iconic destinations including Glasgow, Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester and London.
Virgin Trains is committed to delivering a high speed, high frequency service, offering shorter journey times, more comfortable travel and excellent customer service. Customers consistently rate Virgin Trains ahead of other long-distance rail franchise operators in the National Rail Passenger Survey (NRPS) commissioned by industry watchdog, Transport Focus.
Virgin Trains has a proud record of challenging the status quo - from introducing tilting Pendolino trains, to a pioneering automated delay repay scheme, introducing the industry-leading onboard entertainment streaming service, BEAM, and becoming the first franchised rail operator to offer m-Tickets for all ticket types.
Virgin Trains operated the East Coast route between March 1, 2015 and June 24, 2018. In that time, we invested £75m to create a more personalised travel experience, including over £40m in the existing fleet. Customers have benefitted from 48 additional services between Edinburgh and London every week, and an extra 22 Saturday services between Leeds and London – a total of 1.74 million additional seats since May 2015.
Working together, the partnership railway of the public and private sectors has published a long-term plan, called In Partnership for Britain’s Prosperity, to change and improve Britain’s railway. The plan will secure almost £85bn of additional economic benefits to the country whilst enabling further investment and improvement, and contains four commitments which will see rail companies: strengthen our economic contribution to the country; improve customers’ satisfaction; boost the communities we serve; and, create more and better jobs in rail. For more information go to Britain Runs on Rail.
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