Virgin Trains Staff and Mills & Boon in Unique Comic Relief Collaboration

LONDON and WARRINGTON, England - With Photos

Virgin Trains has teamed up with Mills & Boon to bring romance, kissing
and fun to train travellers and raise money for Red Nose Day.

The centre of the fund-raising activity was Warrington Bank Quay station,
the focus of recent world-wide attention when ‘kissing’ and ‘no kissing’
signs were unveiled as part of a GBP1 million refurbishment of the station.

New signs have been launched with ‘kiss me quick’ and ‘linger for longer’
themes, encouraging customers being delivered to the station by car to say
their slow goodbyes in an area a little way from the congestion at the front
of the station.

The launch of the new signs was part of a day of activities in which
Virgin Trains’ staff at the station raised money for Comic Relief.

The day began with a symbolic kiss between local Mills & Boon author
Annie Burrows and Virgin’s Director of Communications, Arthur Leathley,
confirming that, far from banning kissing, Virgin positively encourages it
(among willing participants!).

Other delights on offer during the morning, all set to a background of
soft romantic music, included the opportunity to:

- sit in the decorated Virgin kissing seat
- place your head through a giant book cover to have your photo taken in
a clinch with a Mills and Boon hero
- pay for a peck on the cheek from a star look-a-like
- meet rising star of Mills & Boon and local author Annie Burrows
- find out strange and interesting kissing facts
- listen to a romantic chapter read by a Mills and Boon character.

At London Euston station, top model Caprice and comedian and ‘Let’s Dance
for Comic Relief’ finalist Leigh Francis (aka Keith Lemon) were on hand to
‘Spread the Love’.

At London Euston and at Glasgow Central stations,Virgin Trains’ staff
used their spare time to raise money for Comic Relief, bringing the usual
Virgin sense of fun to their efforts. Fun included a giant Mills & Boon book
cover where, for a donation, individuals could place their head through a
hole to be photographed with a Mills & Boon hero.

Virgin Trains Media Information

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Virgin Trains is the brand name of Virgin Rail Group. We have operated
the West Coast passenger train franchise since 1997; the current franchise
runs to March 2012.

Virgin Rail Group is owned 51 percent by Virgin Group and 49 percent by
Stagecoach.

Virgin Trains has been listed as the Best Train Operator in a survey by
the Institute of Customer Service and has been voted Best Rail Company by
Travel Weekly magazine and Best UK Domestic Train Service by Business
Traveler magazine.

Note to Editors:

Pictures accompanying this release are available through the PA
Photowire. They can be downloaded from www.pa-mediapoint.press.net
or viewed at www.mediapoint.press.net or www.prnewswire.co.uk.

Source: Virgin Trains

For further information contact the Virgin Trains press office +44(0)845-000-3333. Photos of the various events are available on request.