Posted 10th May 2016 | 3 Comments
10-year old Izzy makes railway security appeal
THE 10-year old daughter of a railway worker has become the youngest ever station announcer, by providing the voice of a security message at more than 200 Govia Thameslink stations. Izzy's message includes the phrase "Please help my mummy and daddy come home safely".
Stella Rogers is head of security for Govia Thameslink's four routes, which are Gatwick Express, Great Northern, Southern and Thameslink.
She said: "The UK is in a heightened state of security and it is more important than ever, after the atrocities in Belgium, for passengers to keep a look-out for abandoned bags and suspicious behaviour.
"The announcements we make are so well known they just blend into the background noise of the station and are ignored.
"Izzy’s childish voice imploring passengers to help her mum and dad get home safely will hopefully make people sit up and take notice."
GTR said it was 'mindful that any message repeated too many times can itself become overlooked,' so it will be scheduling the announcements to run one week in every four in a trial which starts at 236 stations this week. The company said it was also planning to use the voices of people 'from other walks of life' for security announcements in future.
Reader Comments:
Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.
David Cook, Broadstone, Dorset
Anything that can help with the security of staff and passengers has to be a positive. Well done Izzy!
jak jaye, sutton coldfiled
Yes great now can we have back the individual station announcements instead of the same boring voices at every station
Chris Green, Huddersfield
What an inspirational young girl she is. She is right to send out a message to the passengers to be on the look-out for suspicious activity. You don't know what could be happening right under your noses, and you've got to be vigilant in places of busy crowds.