Ticket to ride? National Rail responds to viral Paul McCartney ‘complaint’
National Rail has responded to a viral ‘complaint’ about Paul McCartney taking a customer’s reserved seat on a train.
On Wednesday (November 30), the No Context Brits Twitter account – a satirical celebration of “all things great about Britain” – posted an image of the former Beatles musician sitting in a First Class carriage.
The accompanying caption read: “Hello, @nationalrailenq. This man is sitting in my reserved seat and refuses to move, saying he has a ticket to ride. Please investigate.”
No Context Brits’ complaint – of course – references The Beatles’ 1966 single ‘Ticket To Ride’, which is credited to Lennon–McCartney. The tweet has since registered over 126,000 ‘likes’, and been shared more than 7,600 times.
Yesterday (December 1) National Rail’s official Twitter feed re-tweeted the meme. “Hi @NoContextBrits, we investigated your below query however, the person in question has made it very clear that he don’t care,” they said, making a nod to the song in question.
That post has gone on to receive 119,000 ‘likes’ and has been re-tweeted 13,000 times. See both tweets below.
Hi @NoContextBrits, we investigated your below query however, the person in question has made it very clear that he don't care https://t.co/qzLLbrNJwL
— National Rail (@nationalrailenq) December 1, 2022
The interaction inevitably prompted numerous puns in the replies. “Did he get a return or just a Day Tripper?” one person said. Another wrote: “Was this Yesterday?” A third user posted: “Oi…leave it yeah, just let it be.”
Per The Mirror, the image of Macca on the train was taken in London and first surfaced back in 2017. He was said to be travelling from the capital to Hastings in the small First Class carriage.
A passerby explained at the time (via indy100) that McCartney “was on his own without any bodyguards or staff”.
“Only a few people stopped to say hello and that it was nice to see him,” they continued. “He didn’t want photos, but he was very polite and happy to chat, talking about a new album he has coming out.”
Last month saw McCartney announce a new career-spanning vinyl boxset, ‘The 7″ Singles’. It boasts 163 tracks overall, totalling 10 hours of music from the musician’s half-century as a solo artist.
McCartney released his 18th and latest solo studio album, ‘McCartney III’, in December 2020.
Over the summer, Paul McCartney played a mammoth headline set at Glastonbury Festival 2022.
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Tom Skinner
NME
