Thursday 15 October 2009

NR goegraphically challenged - Official

This just in from Bushy...

Wouldn't you think that Network Rail staff would have some geographic knowledge of their rail network.

My colleague has just received an invite from Nitwonk Fail to an event.

First few details are:

WHO: BOSTON TO SKEGNESS PROJECT TEAM
WHAT: TO SEE THE BOSTON SKEGNESS PROJECT FIRST HAND
WHERE: SIVSEY YARD, STATION ROAD, SIVSEY, LINCOLNSHIRE, PE22 0SA

I just wonder how many guests will struggle to find Sivsey.

At least Google is brighter than NR and asks "do you mean SIBSEY ".

Dreadful, innit!

Can we start a collection to buy NR's Midland & Continental press office a rail atlas?

UPDATE: This just in from an indignant Network Rail...

Ref "NR goegraphically challenged - Official"

Unless I have misplace my irony hat, I hope this is deliberate typo.

It must be a deliberate typo. Mustn't it?

Otherwise you would not have the gall to post such tediously pedantic drivel about a Network Rail press invitation that unfortunately said 'Sivsey' rather than the correct 'Sibsey'.


You may notice just how close 'V' and 'B' are on a keyboard (cont p94)...

UPDATE: This from the late Sir William Pollitt...

Network Rail's 'indignant' response about the 'Sivsey' cock-up speaks volumes about their lax attitude. They really do not 'get it' do they? (to use a phrase of the moment).

It's an invitation. To a place. That doesn't exist! Do they expect their intended guests to be psychic? The fact that 'v' is only the next key to 'b' on a QWERTY keyboard is utterly irrelevant. It explains the cock-up - it does not, as NR imply, excuse their lack of concern for detail.

On a slightly flippant note, a single character out of place can make all the difference. For example, the famous love song would have lost all its mystique if the title had been typed in NR's press office. 'People will think we're in Hove' would just not have cut it. Likewise, Frank Sinatra singing "I've got you under my sink' would likewise have hardly hit the spot, despite the misplacing of a mere single letter!!

More seriously, minor typographical errors could well be the peg on which a libel or defamation case could quite easily hang. As in the expression: 'Network Rail's press office is utterly clueless.' The omission of the three characters forming the word 'not' between 'is' and 'utterly' makes all the difference, eh?


More care, please.