Routinely Shameless

On occasion, events pass me by. It may be that my focus is elsewhere; the low key tone may not help. Both were in evidence last month at Crewe station, where operator Virgin Trains opened a First Class lounge.

So what? Indeed – I do shell out for First Class travel on occasion, but only when booking in advance, and when the price is right. Thus the facility would not immediately catch my attention. But I have now been duly alerted by a newsgroup poster who goes by the suitably anonymous title of, er, Anonymous.

And the reason for my interest is that the new lounge was officially opened by our MP, Edward Timpson (the man with marginally more charisma than a Burton’s dummy), who is now taking an interest in the station whose very existence was of so little concern to him only a few months ago.

When Network Rail (NR) were proposing their harebrained scheme to rip the station out of Crewe and move it to a green field (but potentially monetarily advantageous) site at Basford, Timpson sat on the fence. He surrendered the initiative on countering NR’s propaganda to CREAM, and particularly to Labour politicians such as Councillor Roy Cartlidge and PPC David Williams.

Timpson then bleated that the issue had become “politicised”, thereby selling the pass in some style. He’ll have to do better than turning up to open a new facility to regain any credibility with his electorate.

After all, most of them don’t travel First Class.