Paddington 24/7, channel 5, 21:00 tonight

[whole diary]

[Phantom]

Also thought that it was interesting that the competition that they are running during the commercials was a ticket from London to Looe

What about anyone that doesn't live in the London area?

[TaplowGreen]

I found the bit about the Thai princess quite laughable, When shes paying a lot of £££ for an entire coach, id expect the train to turn up on time, or at least GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) to swap to a train that is already in Paddington to ensure things go smoothly. They also mucked up that time with Prince Harry & Meghan, so not good.

Maybe - but why should her money offer her additional privelages to those of us that pay thousands a year?

Let's be honest, every business rolls out the red carpet under these circumstances, it's just that the GWR carpet is more worn out, stained and frayed than most!

[grahame]

Also thought that it was interesting that the competition that they are running during the commercials was a ticket from London to Looe

What about anyone that doesn't live in the London area?

The series title is Londoncentric in presentation, though lots of footage from elsewhere ... I would take an educated guess that the prize will allow you to travel on any GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) service (starting at any station they serve) to Looe.

[JayMac]

I think the prize includes First Class Anytime Return tickets.

If so, or indeed if they are First Class Off Peak Returns, then the prize winners can start and end their journey at any intermediate station between Paddington and Looe.

[eXPassenger]

I think the prize includes First Class Anytime Return tickets.

If so, or indeed if they are First Class Off Peak Returns, then the prize winners can start and end their journey at any intermediate station between Paddington and Looe.

That should include Bristol, might include Melksham (special stop during a B&H^▸ (Berks and Hants - railway line from Reading to Taunton via Westbury) blockade) and would not include Swansea.

[JayMac]

Yes, Melksham is on a permitted routed from Paddington to Looe. No need for a special stop. Start at Melksham and change at either Chippenham or Westbury for onward travel via either Bristol or Taunton.

Obviously Swansea is way off a permitted route but then there is £500 spending money included in the prize. That'll get you to say Reading to pick up a GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) train to Liskeard for Looe. 

The prize could actually include GWR First Class Anytime Return scratchcard tickets. If they haven't been pre filled in with Paddington as the origin station they could be used from any station on the GWR network. Customers validates these tickets themselves, writing in the origin and destination and scratching off the date of travel. These tickets then have the same terms as an Anytime Return (start/end short, break journey) except that they are only valid on GWR services.

[grahame]

It's not going to be any skin off GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)'s nose for the winners to travel from any GWR station - rumoured to be plenty of seats all around their first class network most of the time, even when standard is full, and it's unlikely that the winners will want to travel at peak times which I suspect would mean a very late arrival into Looe / a very early departure indeed from there.

These competitions are money making exercises, I think. Prizes may look wonderful, but when you look at how much people each pay in via the premium rate line's extra charge, and then multiply it by the number of entries, it starts to look like a form of lottery or gambling with poor odds.

That should include Bristol, might include Melksham (special stop during a B&H^▸ (Berks and Hants - railway line from Reading to Taunton via Westbury) blockade) and would not include Swansea.

Requests for special stops on even one or two days during the 50 days of service decimation this year have been turned down - big pity as it would have been an excellent marketing opportunity for day trips to Paignton or London.   But seeing as it's proving impossible to even deliver seven calls a day against the normal 18, I have to admit that it's probably a wise decision; a platform with 100 people on it, work underway (by then) to extend it to be long enough for the usual train, and the risk of a service that fails to operate near to time ...

[JayMac]

These competitions are money making exercises, I think. Prizes may look wonderful, but when you look at how much people each pay in via the premium rate line's extra charge, and then multiply it by the number of entries, it starts to look like a form of lottery or gambling with poor odds.

It's text message entry, not a premium rate phone call. I'd argue that £2 plus one standard rate message (10-15p) isn't excessive. Yes, these competitions easily generate more revenue than the prize cost, but the odds of winning are an order of magnitude less than a major lottery win.

Oh, and you can enter for as little as 56p if you chose to do so by post.

[Fourbee]

Oh, and you can enter for as little as 56p if you chose to do so by post.

Royal Mail First & Second Class went up 2p a month ago BTW^▸ (by the way)

Doesn't really matter if you've got a book of NVI (Non-Value Indicator) stamps I suppose.

I've got various small denominations of stamps for when I occasionally send letters abroad or if I want to make the front of an envelope colourful.

[Fourbee]

I've got various small denominations of stamps for when I occasionally send letters abroad

(usually combined with larger value ones to get the exact price)

[broadgage]

I found the bit about the Thai princess quite laughable, When shes paying a lot of £££ for an entire coach, id expect the train to turn up on time, or at least GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) to swap to a train that is already in Paddington to ensure things go smoothly. They also mucked up that time with Prince Harry & Meghan, so not good.

Maybe - but why should her money offer her additional privelages to those of us that pay thousands a year?

If they really had booked an entire first class coach, then at least they should be provided with that. So the train with the full first class coach locked out of use would be unsuitable.

And they were almost certainly paying a LOT more per mile than season ticket holders who pay heavily discounted fares for peak time travel.

[Timmer]

I noticed they were in coach K which is a composite coach of half standard half first.

[Boppy]

In reference to the London/Paddington centric nature I was wondering if "other place" 24/7 may be an option for future series.

One of the reasons being if you see the A4 notices referring to filming at Reading station it says for Reading 24/7. My assumption was this is a working title for the shooting done there which then becomes part of the Paddington 24/7 programme.

[Sixty3Closure]

Do you think when they were planning the series they had a conversation along the lines of "..I wonder if there will be enough incidents to fill a couple of programmes?"

[Timmer]

Well they decided on 20 programs so were obviously confident of enough things taking place though I have to say they really ham things up at times for the smallest of incidents. I just remind myself that this is a general entertainment program aimed at appealing to the casual veiewr so don’t take it too seriously.