Tap dancers turn heads at railway station

The scheme was first trialled by Great Western Railway in Bristol

A troupe of tap dancers turned heads at a railway station to remind customers to "tap out".

Four dancers performed at Swindon Station on Wednesday standing on a giant smartcard to promote a new time-saving card for customers.

Great Western Railway is extending its pay-as-you-go touch smartcard towards Swindon, as well as along the Stroud Valley between Swindon and Gloucester.

The cards, already in use in Bristol, mean passengers automatically get the best value on-the-day fair.

The use of the cards has now been extended as far as Gloucester

The dancers were led by Tap Attack founder Jo Scanlan, who works closely with Swindon’s Wilkes Dance Company and who, in 2009, set a new Guinness World Record of 784 tap beats in one minute.

Ruth Busby, people and transformation director at GWR and Network Rail Western, said: "The smartcard allows you to ‘tap in’ and ‘tap out’ at stations towards Bristol and across the Stroud Valley, calculating the best value fare on the day of travel.

“We launched the scheme around Bristol in 2022 and are excited about taking this next step, extending it to Swindon and encouraging modal shift and sustainable travel.”

The touch smartcard is valid on GWR and CrossCountry services between Swindon and Bristol, and also Weston-super-Mare.