Standalone QTT
Colin Griffiths
Ambassador at hartlepool
"This gives the passengers the confidence that Grand Central is here to support them"
Retired business adviser Colin Griffiths has been a keen supporter of Grand Central since 2007 when we first launched a service from the North East. He’s been an ambassador since we first launched the programme in 2017.
As former chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, Colin has been involved in many Hartlepool events and has kept a close eye on how the service has developed in the area.
Colin is also a friend Of Hartlepool Station, a member of a retired men’s forum and ECHO (European Children's Help Organisation), a charity helping Romanian children. When he was first asked to become a Grand Central ambassador, he says, “I liked that I was giving something back to GC. The service we have from the North East is excellent and the support it offers to the businesses in the area is important.” When he started, he says, there were no staff on the station: “Now we have a team of around 14 or 15 on a six-week rota.”
On a typical day as ambassador, Colin arrives at around 8am, welcoming people, assisting with luggage and wheelchairs on to the trains – “we try to work with staff on the train to ensure the passengers are settled.” On one notable occasion, he says, “We helped a footballer who’d had a fall on the station and banged his head. It was a large party and we were concerned so we asked staff to keep an eye on him and contacted the football club to check if he was ok. We’ve also helped a blind passenger who’d been left by a taxi driver and who had no idea where he was going and needed settling on the train.”
“People recognise the fact that we have a good service on a Sunday,” says Colin, “and this is in part down to the support of the ambassadors. It gives them confidence Grand Central is here to support them.”