A BRITISH rail company has been forced to apologise after a staff member sent a shocking sexist tweet to a customer.
The stoush began when 27-year-old passenger Emily Lucinda Cole complained about a mix-up to a male ticket inspector on board a crowded Virgin Trains service bound from Edinburgh to London.
The company falls under the umbrella of billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin empire.
Ms Cole told the BBC staff had said to passengers on the platform before boarding that they were welcome to sit in the virtually empty first class section of the train provided they paid for a weekend upgrade.
Once on board, staff told passengers this wasn’t the case and forced them to move seats with luggage in tow.
When Ms Cole complained to the male employee, she claimed he patronised her by referring to her as “honeyâ€.
“The first person to check my ticket was very abrasive. His response to my explaining the situation, politely and honestly, and that I wanted to complain, was ‘you go ahead honey’. In the context and given his aggressive tone I can only assume he didn’t like being challenged by a woman,†she told the BBC.
“I wouldn’t have complained if he’d used the term in a familial or affectionate way. It definitely wasn’t that.â€
However, the original gaffe snowballed after Ms Cole sent a public tweet regarding the incident to the Virgin Trains East Coast Twitter account.
The original tweet read: “When virgin trains mess up and the older male train manager in the resulting conversation dismisses you with that hideously patronising word women shudder at in contexts such as these: ‘honey.’â€
http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/travel/would-you-prefer-pet-or-love-next-time-virgin-trains-slammed-for-sending-customer-sexist-tweet/news-story/1a6e68d382f5b667dace503781d03b51
