A TRAIN company has apologised for not being inclusive after a conductor welcomed passengers on board with “Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls”.
The London North Eastern Railway issued a grovelling apology after passenger Laurence Coles complained.
Coles tweeted: “‘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”.
Laurence’s friend Charlotte Monroe, 28, also contacted the company, saying: “I was sat with Laurence when this tweet was sent. Both of us are non-binary, and we were both alarmed and uncomfortable by the lack of inclusion.”
LNER responded saying: “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.
“We've been working very hard with educating our people on why gender specific pronouns are not suitable in instances like these, and we're sorry to see this has not been applied here.
“It is entirely valid for someone who does not identify with the terms used to feel excluded and as a business we do not accept that anyone should feel excluded.”
But the apology was not welcomed by all passengers, with Jay Beecher blasting: “My Dad was a train driver. If someone 'non-binary' tried kicking off at him over a tannoy announcement addressing passengers as 'ladies and gentlemen', I'm sure he'd have rightly told them to identify as a car and drive themselves the f*ck home.”
James Dreyfus added: “When, oh when, will this mindless idiocy end?”
An LNER spokesperson said: “We are committed to diversity and inclusion in all that we do for our customers, colleagues and communities.
“Our policies and procedures are reviewed regularly and in light of recent comments, we will review if any further changes need to be made.”
TfL ordered staff not to use “ladies and gentlemen” in 2017 to prevent staff from offending transgender passengers on London’s bus, Tube and rail network.
On Wednesday former Prime Minister Tony Blair hit out at Britain’s “woke” culture, saying: “People are suspicious that behind the agenda of many of the culture warriors on the left lies an ideology they find alien and extreme.”
Laurence, who works as a guard for South Western Railway and is also a LGBT+ rep for both the RMT union and the Labour Party in Tooting, south London, didn’t want to comment when contacted by The Sun.
Charlotte works as an instructor signaller for London Underground and was a founder of the Progress Train group which promotes LGBTQ+ diversity and inclusivity across the railway industry.
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