Britain's Virgin Trains apologises for 'misogynist' tweet
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Virgin Trains has "apologised unreservedly" for a tweet which a passenger found offensive and described as "misogynistic behaviour".
Emily Lucinda Cole, 27, was travelling from Edinburh to London when she was referred to as "honey" during a conversation with the train manager.
After she complained on the official Twitter account of Virgin Trains East Coast about the use of the term, they responded by saying if she would prefer "prefer 'pet' or 'love' next time".
Emilia said she was "stunned" by the response.
Wonderful to see that @virgin_trainsEC take complaints of rude and misogynistic behaviour seriously. Stunned. @EverydaySexism @VirginTrains pic.twitter.com/q26EdDoegR
— Emily Lucinda Cole (@EmilyLucindaRC) January 2, 2018
Twitter found the tweet equally sexist:
He was male. I heard him. And it wasn’t regionally appropriate. She was (legitimately) complaining about something else and his response was highly patronising.
— Joe Cannon #FBPE (@JoeCannonLondon) January 2, 2018
There’s quirky social media customer service and then there’s condescending #everydaysexism customer service… @Virgin_TrainsEC pic.twitter.com/5Tht26nMtm
— Claire Phipps (@Claire_Phipps) January 2, 2018
Uh, @Virgin_TrainsEC, did you miss that bit of 2017 where tolerance for sexist shit reached an all time low? pic.twitter.com/HEWCyW1J4A
— Kate Devlin (@drkatedevlin) January 2, 2018
If only #everydaysexism would vanish in 2018 as quickly as this deleted @virgin_trainsEC tweet. pic.twitter.com/uBsNN5ZYXE
— Monica Lennon (@MonicaLennon7) January 2, 2018
A spokesperson for Virgin Trains on the east coast route later issued an apology.
"We apologise unreservedly for this tweet and for the offence caused. To avoid causing more offence we have deleted the original post."