Virgin Trains apologise for 'belittling' tweet in response to misogyny complaint

VIRGIN Trains has apologised after it was accused of not taking a complaint of misogyny seriously.

Customer Emily Cole posted on Twitter that she had felt patronised by a train manager after she made a query, saying he had referred to her as “honey”.

But in response the company’s account replied: “Sorry for the mess up Emily, would you prefer “pet” or “love” next time?”

Wonderful to see that @virgin_trainsEC take complaints of rude and misogynistic behaviour seriously. Stunned. @EverydaySexism @VirginTrains pic.twitter.com/q26EdDoegR

— Emily Lucinda Cole (@EmilyLucindaRC) January 2, 2018

This was met with accusations of sexism from other users, eventually forcing Virgin to apologise and delete the tweet.

On her account @EmilyLucindaRC, Ms Cole posted: “Wonderful to see that @virgin_trainsEC take complaints of rude and misogynistic behaviour seriously. Stunned.”

She told the BBC: “Their response was patronising and belittling, just the behaviour I was complaining about.

“It wasn’t about the use of the term in isolation that’s the problem but when these words are appropriated in such a passive aggressive way in response to a service complaint.

“They become part of a wider systemic issue of women being patronised and belittled.”

The response from Virgin said: “We apologise unreservedly for this tweet and for the offence caused. To avoid causing more offence we have deleted the original post.”