Colchester: Commuters asked ‘why work in London?’ (From Gazette)
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Colchester: Commuters asked ‘why work in London?’
10:06am Tuesday 4th September 2007 in News
Time for a lay-in - Dan Tidswell, of Prettygood IT, in bed near North Station, Colchester, encouraging commuters to work in the town. Also pictured are Dr Elizabeth Hall, Ewan Dodds, of Colchester 2020, and Charlotte Coad. Picture: NIGEL BROWN (58160-3)
A Colchester worker took to his bed outside the town's train station to show commuters what they are missing by travelling to London.
Dan Tidswell's timing was perfect - as today's stunt coincided with a day of misery for Tube passengers.
Millions were hit as about 2,300 union members walked out at 6pm yesterday for 72 hours, in a dispute linked to the collapse of maintenance firm Metronet.
Joining Mr Tidswell, of Prettygood IT, was Ewan Dodds, a former commuter and now head of Colchester chartered surveyors Whybrow, in his role as lead business partner for the town's 2020 group.
He is charged with boosting Colchester's brainpower by getting well-qualified graduates to find jobs close to home.
He said he could think of no better way of getting the message across than showing travellers the lie-in they could earn themselves by opting out of daily trips to the capital.
Mr Dodds said: "The message is don't do that, do this.
