TRAIN passengers were startled when the on-board announcements appeared to have been taken over by Alvin and the Chipmunks.
Video shows the inside of an Avanti West Coast train and a comically squeaky voice informing passengers about the stops on the route.
Passenger Adam Galbraith Cobb, from Manchester, said the glitch with the prerecorded message forced the train manager to come on and confirm Mickey Mouse was not on board.
Adam was travelling from London to Manchester on Tuesday when the gremlins took over.
He uploaded the clip later to Twitter captioned with: “@AvantiWestCoast I think your automated announcement system may be unwell…”
The short clip begins with a high pitched voice saying: “Avanti West Coast service to Manchester Piccadilly.
“Calling at Stoke-on-Trent, Macclesfield and Stockport.”
@jojopartridge commented under the post writing: “Chipmunks are cheaper than humans. Clever how they got them to record the messages.”
@AvGeekAlex referring to the problem of recent train delays said: “Enjoy the horror movie you’re clearly about to be a part of. Good luck.”
@kev1n1985 wrote: “Have the chipmunks taken over?”
@johnlm20 said: “Avanti Chipmunks. It would be hilarious to have these voices all around UK trains.”
@girlonrails98 wrote: “Who put Alvin and the Chipmunks on the train?”
Speaking today, Adam said: “Maybe it should’ve been shut off before it happened but I’d take that on Avanti versus my normal Northern[Rail] experience any day.
“It was Poor. Massively overcrowded trains, often late and old overcrowded carriages.
“I’m not that convinced renationalisation will fix it as a lot of the issues are with the infrastructure.
“No panic but I did wonder if this was some new marketing effort, like those talking toilets they used to have.
“Other passengers didn’t seem bothered by it but the train manager did reassure us that Mickey Mouse wasn’t running the train once we got going.”
A customer service agent replied to Adam on Twitter saying: “It sounds like Daffy Duck has taken over, which service and coach are you on Adam?
“Thank you Adam, our fleet team are aware of it and are on the opinion that it is Alvin and his mates.”
