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Station calls time on kissing (UK train station bans goodbye kisses because it holds up trains)
The Manchester Evening News / Various ^ | February 16, 2009 | Dean Kirby

Posted on 02/16/2009 5:49:48 AM PST by Stoat

Station calls time on kissing

Dean Kirby
February 16, 2009

RAIL stations and romantic farewells go hand-in-hand. Tearful clinches as the train prepares to leave - immortalised by Trevord Howard and Celia Johnson in the classic film Brief Encounter - have always pulled at the heart-strings.

But not at Warrington Bank Quay Station, it seems.

A No Kissing sign has been put up at after concern that commuters were being delayed by passionate embraces.

It is now prohibited to do nothing more than shake hands at the station taxi rank.

If lovers insist on puckering-up, they now have to go to a designated kissing area. The signs were put up during a £1m station revamp - but the move has set the tongues wagging.

 

Jenna Seddon and Andy Ross
Jenna Seddon and Andy Ross

 

Amy Swain, 21, who was travelling to Lancaster with her partner Malcolm Kenny, 23, said: "I don't see the point in the no-kissing sign. I don't think it'll stop people. But the kissing sign is good, although it might be upsetting if you're single."

John Finney, 29, from St Helens, said: "Someone in an office somewhere must have a good sense of humour.

"We're law-abiding citizens, though, so of course we won't be breaking the rules."

His partner, Lynne Surgenor, 24, from Glasgow, said: "His car was parked beneath the kissing sign and I thought he'd put it up as a joke. It made me laugh."

Train passenger Jenna Seddon, 23, from Warrington, said: "I think the signs are quite sweet. It's romantic and a bit of fun. It'll stop people from holding up the traffic as well."

Ruth Hardman, 31, and Alan Dawson, 36, were heading home to the Lake District.

Gob-smacked

Ruth said: "I was gob-smacked when I saw them. They should spend the money on something more worthwhile."

The idea of putting them up in Warrington was suggested by Colin Daniels, the chief executive of Warrington Chamber of Commerce.

Mr Daniels said: "It was all a bit of fun. But now Virgin Trains have agreed to erect them as part of the refurbishment.

"They may seem frivolous, but there is a serious message underneath. They certainly make our station unique."

The first kissing zones emerged at American stations in the 1950s for wives to say goodbye to husbands heading to work. But then the village of Deerfield, near Chicago, hit the headlines in 1979 when it created a `No Kissing Zone' at its station after complaints about passionate couples causing traffic delays.

A couple were arrested in India last September after claims their kiss outside a Delhi train station left commuters `feeling bad'.

But an obscenity charge was over thrown by the courts earlier this month.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: britain; cheshire; england; greatbritain; kissing; kissingban; nokissing; nosnogging; rail; train; uk; unitedkingdom
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Also:

Kissing banned at railway station - Telegraph

 

Kissing banned at railway station
Kissing banned at railway station: No-kissing signs have appeared in the taxi rank at Warrington Bank Quay Station forcing lovers to use designated areas only

 

Asked how the no-kissing rule would be enforced, he added: "We will apply this sensibly."

 

Kiss goodbye to Brief Encounters as train station puts up 'No Kissing' sign Mail Online


1 posted on 02/16/2009 5:49:48 AM PST by Stoat
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To: Slings and Arrows

2 posted on 02/16/2009 5:51:07 AM PST by Stoat (Palin / Coulter 2012: A Strong America Through Unapologetic Conservatism)
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To: Stoat

Why not just shut the doors and leave without them?


3 posted on 02/16/2009 5:54:31 AM PST by Tax-chick ("Global leadership means never having to say you're sorry." ~IBD)
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To: Stoat

I bet they’d be amazed at the number of smoochers who would get their butts in gear if the train simply closed it doors and pulled off on time without worrying about them.


4 posted on 02/16/2009 5:56:31 AM PST by contemplator (Capitalism gets no Rock Concerts)
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To: Tax-chick
Why not just shut the doors and leave without them?

LMAO

I suppose they could also hire white-gloved Government 'kissing police' to pull people apart and shove them onto the trains, much like they have attendants push and jam commuters into already-packed trains in some countries, China among them.

5 posted on 02/16/2009 5:57:45 AM PST by Stoat (Palin / Coulter 2012: A Strong America Through Unapologetic Conservatism)
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To: Tax-chick

I think most trains in the UK still have doors leading from outside to each individual compartment, something US lawyers would have a field-day with if given the chance.


6 posted on 02/16/2009 5:58:28 AM PST by 1rudeboy
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To: contemplator; Stoat

GMTA. Close the doors *on* them, if necessary.

My husband said Japan has “pushers,” too.


7 posted on 02/16/2009 5:59:18 AM PST by Tax-chick ("Global leadership means never having to say you're sorry." ~IBD)
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To: Stoat

A new record was set in Washington last week of the number of people kissing Baaracks butt.


8 posted on 02/16/2009 6:13:08 AM PST by Piquaboy (22 year veteran of the Army, Air Force and Navy, Pray for all our military .)
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To: Stoat

Of course two guys kissing will be perfectly hunky-dory with these guys.


9 posted on 02/16/2009 6:13:59 AM PST by dfwgator (1996 2006 2008 - Good Things Come in Threes)
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To: dfwgator
Of course two guys kissing will be perfectly hunky-dory with these guys.

Do you suppose that legal action will be taken against the railway because the sign features only a heterosexual couple?  It could cause homosexuals to feel 'marginalized', after all.

"blech"

10 posted on 02/16/2009 6:21:46 AM PST by Stoat (Palin / Coulter 2012: A Strong America Through Unapologetic Conservatism)
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To: Tax-chick
"Why not just shut the doors and leave without them?"

LOL! Exactly what I was thinking.

11 posted on 02/16/2009 6:24:15 AM PST by Lockbar (March toward the sound of the guns.)
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To: Stoat

“Taffeta, darling!”


12 posted on 02/16/2009 6:30:53 AM PST by yefragetuwrabrumuy
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To: Stoat

Truth detector! The truth is that it disturbs the Muslims’ delicate sensibilities and GB is doing everything it can to surrender to them.


13 posted on 02/16/2009 6:31:28 AM PST by Blood of Tyrants (The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money. Margret Thatcher)
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To: Tax-chick

> Why not just shut the doors and leave without them?

That’s far too sensible a solution. Why waste such a jolly good opportunity to make a “rule”? Of course, Rules need to be enforced by somebody, and that mean creating a job or two, and printing up Kissing Fine books — which of course will need someone to administer and collect...

If Obama wasn’t looking at this seriously for job creation yet, he will be soon. There is a whole sub-industry just waiting to kick into gear behind anti-kissing. Think of all the new taxes! Think of all the lives that can be saved by preventing all those germs being spread! To say nothing of the second-hand kissing rights of all those lonely hearts out there, forced to watch while others kiss. And the trains will run on time, too!

It worked for the anti-smoking lobby, after all!


14 posted on 02/16/2009 6:37:35 AM PST by DieHard the Hunter (Is mise an ceann-cinnidh. Cha ghéill mi do dhuine. Fàg am bealach.)
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To: DieHard the Hunter

Excellent observations! Maybe I can get a job as Kissing Monitor at Wal-mart.


15 posted on 02/16/2009 6:46:59 AM PST by Tax-chick ("Global leadership means never having to say you're sorry." ~IBD)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!


16 posted on 02/16/2009 6:57:06 AM PST by Riflema
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To: Stoat; MeekOneGOP; Conspiracy Guy; DocRock; King Prout; Darksheare; OSHA; martin_fierro; ...
But Muslims can take as much time as they like to behead their spouses.


17 posted on 02/16/2009 9:11:31 AM PST by Slings and Arrows (This disaster brought to you by the failed Obama administration.)
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To: yefragetuwrabrumuy
LOL!

Pardon me, boy, is this the Transylvania station?

18 posted on 02/16/2009 9:12:55 AM PST by mewzilla (In politics the middle way is none at all. John Adams)
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To: Stoat

I used to drop my husband at the Kiss-ride in Chamblee GA on Mondays when we lived in Atlanta. A little kiss and he was gone for the week. Now Friday night when I pickeded him and we got home and the kids to bed that’s another story. ;)


19 posted on 02/16/2009 9:18:45 AM PST by kalee (01/20/13 The end of an error.... Obama even worse than Carter.)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

Yes, I suspect you have the correct reasaon.


20 posted on 02/16/2009 9:19:58 AM PST by kalee (01/20/13 The end of an error.... Obama even worse than Carter.)
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