HL Deb 23 July 1980 vol 412 cc383-4

2.51 p.m.

Lord FERRIER

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, in view of the large number of tourists and inexperienced holiday travellers at this time of year, they will urge British Rail and airport authorities to improve the intelligibility of public address announcements in stations and airports.

Lord MOWBRAY and STOURTON

My Lords, this is a matter for management. It is up to the British Railways Board and individual airport authorities to decide whether they need to improve their public address announcements.

Lord FERRIER

My Lords, while thanking the noble Lord for that reply, which I was unable to hear, may I ask whether he is aware that, in the absence of up-to-date equipment, it is the skill of the operator who can best make intelligible announcements on the public address system?

Lord MOWBRAY and STOURTON

My Lords, British Rail, like your Lordships in this Chamber, are trying constantly to improve audio communications; but it is difficult for them to overcome such problems as bad station acoustics and background noises from trains. The British Rail announcers usually work from standard scripts which are specially prepared to give information clearly and concisely. The Transport Users Con- sultative Committee for London recently published a report on London's terminii which concluded that the public address announcements were reasonably satisfactory. They did consider, however, that such announcements should be more regular and less formal.

Lord MAELOR

My Lords, may I ask the Minister whether he will correct the language of these announcements? For instance, they say "The buffet carriage is at the centre of the train." But a train has no centre. Only a circle and a square have a centre. Then they go further and say, "This train will terminate at Wolverhampton." Surely the train does not terminate. It is high time to correct the language of these announcements.

Lord MOWBRAY and STOURTON

My Lords, I am very relieved. I thought that the noble Lord was going to address us in Welsh. But Hansard is read by British Rail, and I will make sure, anyhow, that the noble Lord's comments are brought to the attention of the British Railways Board.

Lord THORNEYCROFT

My Lords, would the Government stop harassing these great public corporations, and concentrate on the intelligibility of the address system in your Lordships' House?

Lord MOWBRAY and STOURTON

My Lords, the boards which run the great airport authorities and the railways have people who are called acoustic consultants. Perhaps, if the ceiling in our Chamber takes much longer, your Lordships may need to go to these acoustic consultants as well.