Have you ever been stuck on a delayed rush hour train only to have the driver ask if you wanted to sing a song?
If you have, chances are you have been listening to James Beckingham.
Since qualifying as a driver last year, the 31-year-old has been cheering up commuters with his quirky announcements on Southern trains, drawing on his 10 years of experience working in radio – and notching up a fair few Twitter fans in the process.
Now Mr Beckingham, who tweets as @TweetJamesB, has been nominated as driver of year in the annual Rail Staff awards.
"Well as the song goes - pack it up, pack it in, let us begin..." Yep, I got the funny @SouthernRailUK driver again!
— Caroline Carpenter (@CarolineC1988) October 1, 2015
"Do mind the extraordinary large gap at Hackbridge...if you fall into it then u will enter another dimension.." Hah! #Southern @tweetjamesb
— fringeful (@ruthlett) September 18, 2015
Mr Beckingham admitted he enjoyed the attention, but saw the announcements as something more than just a bit of fun.
He said: “Sometimes poor Southern get a poor rep, often for things out of its control. Being able to communicate is a priority when things are going wrong. It’s almost like presenting.
“I’ve got quite a big ego so that first thing I do when I get off the train is search on Twitter ‘Funny train driver’.”
Mr Beckingham’s success has inspired other drivers to start making similar announcements – with nearly a quarter of Southern trains in south London running late in the past year, frustrated commuters could do with a few more laughs.
"Please mind the gap between @SouthernRailUK timetable and reality." This morning's train driver. Love him.
— Adam Lilley (@adamski1974) September 11, 2015
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