The National Rail Enquiries website was branded “unusable” today after the site was given a monochrome makeover in tribute to Prince Philip.
Users logging on to check train times were met with a site completely devoid of colour as the timetable service honoured the duke’s long life with a grey transformation.
Many customers said they can no longer read the website, with one saying it will cause “chaos” for those with eyesight problems:
National Rail greyscaled their website to mourn the death of Prince Philip and its causing utter chaos for the visually impaired. Its what he would have wanted I guess. pic.twitter.com/zMfFC9ZpBD
— Beeb (@ybees3) April 11, 2021
Others pointed out the irony of turning a rail enquiry website grey in honour of a man who “chartered private planes and helicopters to get around the UK”:
National Rail give their site a monochrome makeover that makes booking even more incomprehensible in honour of Prince Philip who chartered private planes and helicopters to get around the UK. pic.twitter.com/ZFmFdhZa2f
— Phantom Power (@PhantomPower14) April 12, 2021
Reaction elsewhere was similarly dumbfounded:
This is absolutely wild ?
— John Burn-Murdoch (@jburnmurdoch) April 12, 2021
If anyone has ever wondered what would happen if a major website used by millions of people decided to deliberately breach accessibility standards for a week, National Rail has just put its site into grayscale “as a mark of respect for Prince Phillip” https://t.co/6FmoGqBcWe
As a mark of respect for Prince Philip, National Rail have made their employees unable to read the National Rail timetable pic.twitter.com/yyl7OXbF5L
— James Felton (@JimMFelton) April 12, 2021
“Prince Phillip really wanted the National Rail website to be in black and white, he was always going on about it” https://t.co/JqtuLH32Nm
— Sooz Kempner (@SoozUK) April 12, 2021
Industry body the Rail Delivery Group, which runs NRE, said: “The National Rail Enquiries website has been temporarily greyscaled as a mark of respect following the death of HRH Duke of Edinburgh on Friday.
“We are listening to feedback about how people are using the website and are making further changes today to make it more accessible to all our customers.”
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