Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110

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Train cleaner in race to find missing Olympic tickets

Despite the many empty spectator seats at this year's Olympic Games, the tickets were really hard to come by, so you can imagine the anguish of the woman and her son when they arrived at the Olympic Park in East London this week, only to realise that they had discarded their tickets with other rubbish they had left on the train that had taken them into Liverpool Street station.

They hastily returned to Liverpool Street, where members of the Greater Anglia Train Presentation Team helped them identify the train. However, it had already been cleaned and the cleaning team had not found any tickets.

Train cleaner Gaspare Giarracco, 42, who lives in the North London Borough of Haringey, then volunteered to go through the bins at the station in the hope that he would be able to recover the tickets.

Working against the clock, just like the Olympians, Gaspare rummaged through the bins, finding the tickets in the nick of time and enabling the mother and son to return to the Olympic Park in the knowledge that they could gain entry. Gaspare, meanwhile, was being presented with a special service award by his employer.

Speaking to a Press Association reporter, Greater Anglia customer service director Andrew Goodrum said: "Gaspare really is a champion. He's gone the extra mile to ensure a customer's once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Games could go ahead.

"His actions exemplify what good customer service is all about. He is a great role model for us all."

9th August 2012