Northern rail re-records mispronounced train station names like Mossley Hill after locals fume

A train operator has re-recorded a batch of announcements for stations after coming under fire for mispronouncing them, including Mossley Hill in Liverpool.

Northern said it had updated its announcements earlier this year, but faced a backlash for still getting many of them wrong. The company then appealed for locals to help get them right and has now wrapped up recording of 34 station names to ‘ensure local pronunciation was respected’.

Tricia Williams, chief operating officer at Northern, said: “Some of the stations on our network are pronounced very differently to how they appear in writing – it’s important to get these things right.”

Northern, which had previously recorded the names of over 500 stations across the network, received 47 formal requests to re-record announcements.

It came under fire from rail users that Mossley Hill station in Liverpool was pronounced wrongly as ‘Mozz-ley’. The firm said it was planning to use ‘Mose-ley’, which prompted further uproar from locals as the correct pronunciation is ‘Moss-ley’.

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Other names that caused controversy were Aspatria in Cumbria, Kirkham and Wesham in Lancashire, Ilkeston in Derbyshire and Sowerby Bridge in West Yorkshire.

Station announcer Laura Palmer, who re-recorded the names along with Pete Corley thanked passengers for their help with the project. She said: “People were quite rightly really passionate about how we pronounce their local hometowns.”