Stunt gets the bird
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• Parcels delivery firm Amtrak found itself coping with a marketing nightmare last week when a customer's publicity stunt enraged the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
The franchised operator was deluged with calls after completing an overnight delivery of 79 racing pigeons to financial journalists.
Although the RSPCA later said the parcels carrier had been an "innocent party" to the stunt, Amtrak marketing manager Roger Gamlin said it was "an activity we wouldn't want to repeat".
Now the company is deciding whether it will continue to work for Clarendon, the PR agency which sent the birds.
Amtrak runs a service which reunites lost racing pigeons with their owners, but Gamlin stresses: "The service was not intended for this kind of use."