TfL 'fairy tale' notice at station sparks sexism row

Quote of the day: The sign which sparked a sexism row on Twitter.
Herpreet Grewal.
Francesca Gillett25 August 2016

A notice at a London station has sparked a sexism row after being snapped by a train passenger.

The Transport for London board at Ilford station – which usually gives passengers a friendly ‘quote of the day’ as well as details of train delays – made a joke that some have branded sexist.

The sign read: “My wife always wanted a fairy-tale, so I locked her in the tower.”

Herpreet Grewal posted a photo of the sign on Twitter and said: “Not the most affirming quote of the day especially if you’re a woman”.

TfL Rail, which is responsible for the station, told Ms Grewal via their Twitter account that the sign was being looked into. Later that morning TfL said the sign was “no longer on display”.

Ms Grewal today told the Standard: “I took a picture of it because it doesn’t sit well with me.

“Usually I look at that board and it’s got a funny quote on it. But this time it didn’t.

“The underlying message was that if you’re p****d with your wife, just lock her up. I thought it was a pretty dumb thing to write."

Many have taken to Twitter to express opinions on both sides of the sexism row.

Jo Smith said: “That is absolutely appalling. How has that been posted anywhere?!”

Alex Bedford said: “Normally so amusing, this particular TfL daily update has overstepped the mark”.

But some have hit out at Ms Grewal, defending the sign as a play on words and simply a joke.

Darren Lock said: "And again, someone comes along to suck the fun out of life... A shame."

But Ms Grewal said there was no need for some users on Twitter to get nasty.

"Some of the tweets I have got, they are just not reading it deeply enough," she said.

"That’s the whole point of everyday sexism, it’s so deeply embedded in the culture that people might think it’s not anything but it actually is. Isn’t the point to speak out when you see things?”

Danny Fox, Deputy Operations Director for TfL Rail, said: “Our quote of the day messages are issued to our stations on a daily basis for frontline staff to use.

"On this occasion a member of staff chose to use their own message, and the content was clearly inappropriate.

"I apologise to customers who were offended. We are conducting an internal investigation and reminding staff of the procedures and their responsibilities.”

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