18 MARCH 2000, Page 32

A to B blues

From Verity Kalcev Sir: Dot Wordsworth wonders about the use of 'customer' instead of 'passenger' by rail companies (Mind your language, 11 March). It's not new: British Rail first introduced it and, when I wrote then to express my irrita- tion, the chairman Bob Reid agreed that he preferred 'passenger' but that the use of `customer' helped to remind staff (rather than us, as seems to be the case now) of the service element of BR. Nevertheless, I am still sure that most people would prefer 'pas- senger', which at least contains some inher- ent promise of getting from A to B.

Verity Kalcev

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