Pop star versus tram conductor!

A bizarre war of words took place on Twitter during the evening of Tuesday 1st October as the result of a seemingly minor dispute between a tram conductor and a passenger in Blackpool. This may not seem especially noteworthy, however the passenger in question was Ian Watkins, better known as ‘H’ from pop group Steps, who is currently starring in a touring production of ‘Jospeh & the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat’!

The musical visited Blackpool’s Opera House on the first night of October, and the star of the show was presumably using a tram to travel around the town during his stay. However, ‘H’ became very disgruntled and told his 68,179 followers on the social networking website Twitter about the poor customer service he had experienced, stating that a tram conductor had informed the other passengers that a celebrity was on board the vehicle, and had also insulted him. Following various responses from fans, he later added that he had made a complaint to Blackpool Transport. As if the situation wasn’t strange enough, the member of staff in question also used his own Twitter account to announce that he had had an ‘argument’ with ‘H’ from Steps and appeared to insult him again, this time in a much more public manner!

Needless to say, the writer’s experiences indicate that the vast majority of Blackpool Transport staff are very friendly and helpful. It is therefore hoped that Mr Watkins and his fans will appreciate that this was an isolated occurance. Nonetheless, this unsavoury incident reminds us all of the dangers of social media, and hopefully in future tram crews will be mindful of the potential implications of any comments they may post on the Internet that relate to their job.