To Coyne A Phrase

Naming wrongs

THE bizarre decision to allow all four local Capital One cup ties to take place at the same time on Tuesday night may have had many of us scratching our heads (what’s wrong with using Wednesday night?) but it certainly got London Midland all excited.

“London Midland will be supporting local football fans with 21 extra services for Tuesday night’s Capital One cup games,” the train company chirruped prior to the big day.

It went on to list the extra trains it would be putting on to whisk away the thousands of fans who had been enjoying the Aston Villa v Notts County and Walsall v Brighton ties.

But it went one step further with the Birmingham City v Gillingham clash – not only was it putting on extra trains but it had seemingly built a whole new station for the occasion.

“Sixteen additional stops have been put in on the Snow Hill lines, at Beardsley, for the Birmingham City v Gillingham match,” it said.

Beardsley? Now I know Peter was a great of the English game but he never played for Blues. If London Midland is serious about a re-brand for Bordesley station – not in itself a bad idea – might I suggest re-naming it Francis or Latchford instead?

The White Elephant Express

WHEN I first heard that the new railway station at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry won’t be supporting sporting events there I did a quick double-check to make sure it wasn’t April 1st.

Apparently, as reported in the Coventry Telegraph, fans of both Coventry City and Wasps have been told not to use the new Ricoh Arena railway station to get to and from matches.

The new station at the stadium is due to open next month as part of a £13.6m project to improve the Nuneaton to Coventry rail line but safety fears mean it will be shut for an hour after the final whistle on match days.

That’s because the trains will only be able to carry 75 passengers and operator London Midland will only put on one train an hour.

Now I know the Sky Blues’ crowds aren’t what they were but I’m sure there are more than 75 of them. And didn’t Wasps have at least one crowd of 30,000+ last season?

London Midland has said there will be no expansion to the hourly service on matchdays.

It told the newspaper: “The issue is that the service is one single diesel carriage that has 75 seats. We have been clear about that from the start of the project.

“At the moment there aren’t any more trains available in the country to run that service.”

75 people and once an hour? That isn’t a train service, it can’t even compete with the volunteer-run steam chuffer beloved of kids visiting Evesham Country Park.

London Midland is advising fans to carry on using other modes of transport to get to and from games. Thanks for that.

Everyone involved in this project must feel so proud. It’s not every day that such a level of ineptitude is reached.

Whisky galore

WE’VE become very excited at Business Desk Towers at the prospect of the Midlands Whisky Festival 2015 which takes place on Friday 18th and Saturday 19th September at Stourbridge Town Hall.

The event provides an opportunity for ticket holders to taste the finest rare whiskies, some of them from distilleries long closed down but whose historic stock has been acquired by other distilleries and collectors. 

It also includes masterclasses by experts from the likes of Laphroaig, celebrating its 200th anniversary this year, and Nikka, the Japanese distiller.

There will be around 40 exhibitors over the two day event including artisan chocolatier Matthieu De Gottal, whose speciality is whisky chocolates, and local bistro, French Connection.

The Midlands Whisky Festival is the brainchild of Nickolls and Perks, an independent wine and spirits merchants in Stourbridge which dates back to the 18th century.

Mine’s a large one with no ice if anyone’s asking.

Have a great weekend.

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