Virgin Rail is no longer able to claim `You Can Forget about Flying` when you`re travelling between Manchester and central London…
Virgin Rail is no longer able to claim `You Can Forget about Flying` when you`re travelling between Manchester and central London. On Tuesday in a race against the train and in the full glare of the BBC TV North West Tonight regional news programme, VLM Airlines was independently proved the fastest way to get to the centre of London from Manchester.
The race was independently mounted by the BBC North West news team and involved two journalists racing by air and by train from Manchester to London`s Piccadilly early in the morning. The journalists arrived at Piccadilly Circus at the middle of the capital`s rush hour – and despite a long taxi ride from London City Airport (the main hub for VLM Airlines) to Piccadilly Circus (which is only a mile from Virgin`s London Euston Terminus), VLM Airlines won by 16 minutes.
At 06.25 on Tuesday 27th September, BBC TV`s Dave Guest boarded the 06.35 Virgin Pendolino train to London Euston at Manchester Piccadilly. At the same moment, his colleague Jayne Barratt joined the check-in queue at Manchester Airport`s Terminal 3 for VLM Airlines` 07.00 flight to London City.
By 08.00, Jayne Barratt was on the ground at London City Airport, having enjoyed her complementary in-flight snack. Dave Guest was somewhere near Rugby, eating the bacon butty he had purchased. Upon arrival, Jayne hailed a taxi – and began the 10-mile journey in rush hour traffic to Piccadilly, having decided not to use the fast London Underground links via Canning Town. She arrived at the finishing point in Piccadilly Circus at 08.56. Dave Guest`s scheduled arrival into London Euston was 09.00 but the train arrived earlier, however Dave still did not arrive at the finishing point until 09.12, a full 16 minutes after Jayne.
Total journey time for Jayne with VLM Airlines (including that long taxi ride) was 2 hours 31 minutes. Dave Guest, travelling on Virgin`s new state-of-the-art Pendolino, took 2 hours 47 minutes. VLM Airlines beats Virgin as the fastest way to travel from Manchester to the heart of London.
VLM Airlines` UK Regional Manager David Nye was understandably elated, commenting: A year ago, on the day Virgin introduced their new faster Pendolino service, we challenged Sir Richard Branson via the BBC to a race, to prove who was fastest between Manchester and London. Even the BBC couldn`t persuade him to participate – so they mounted their own independent challenge.
We were a bit worried when we learned the finish was Piccadilly Circus, so close to London Euston. But even before the new DLR Rail Link from inside London City Airport comes on line in December, we proved there`s no faster way to get to the centre of London. Despite all that massive investment in track and trains, Virgin still isn`t the busy traveller`s most efficient choice from Manchester to the heart of London.
Perhaps Sir Richard will now remove that `Forget about Flying` claim from their website, and replace it with `It`s Faster Flying`.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
