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Toy company Big Jigs submitted a jokey application to run the troubled West Coast Mainline franchise, and didn’t expect to get much joy. But the Department for Transport replied. And was quite funny.
The original letter from Big Jigs included one of the company’s wooden train models as a blatant bribe, with the toy maker claiming it has never had an accident, and that it’s toys are unaffected by the weather. It was a bit of a strange thing for a company to do.
The DfT’s response was even weirder. It critiqued the wooden toys, suggesting that wooden carriages wouldn’t pass today’s stringent safety tests, also pointing out that the two axle system is rather old hat by today’s standards and would lead to some severe speed limitations were the wooden toys to be rolled out on the West Coast Mainline route.
Everyone was a bit bored and silly. Here’s the original letter and the DfT secretary’s response. Click it to make it more readable:
Very good. I shall certainly be voting Conservative after that. [Big Jigs]
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Love the ‘dad jokes’ humour
Nice of Mark Reach, even if it was written on tax payer’s money
could of been a lunch break email?
Brilliant.. and whats funny is i doubt they could be any worse than the 4 bidding.. not to mention i bet they would be cheaper..
I bet someone at Hornby’s kicking themselves for not thinking of this.
Brilliant! And good to see some people in high up places have a sense of humour!
And even they would be a better option to run the West Coast Main Line than First Great Western!
If only Mr McLoughlin were to offer such a detailed critique of the rolling stock used by Greater Anglia. Also I suspect it’s probably easier to fit into one of those toy carriages than their trains at rush hour.