The Southport Comedy Festival in association with Halliwell Jones BMW has announced the 1st big name to performing this year at the Festival!

THE King of the Southport Comedy Festival and 'Outright King of Comedy' Jason Byrne returns for a 9th year with a brand new show:- 'The Ironic Bionic Man.' The popular annual event takes place from:- 29 September to 15 October 2023, under 1 canvas on:- Victoria Park, in Southport, Merseyside.

Southport Comedy Festival Director Brendan Riley said:- "We are delighted that Jason is coming back for another year. Jason has built up a huge following with our festival goers and his shows sell out every year. "Jason loves playing Southport and It is one of our favourite nights of the festival. Expect comedy chaos, no 2 shows are ever the same."

Jason will be performing on:- Saturday, 7 October 2023 Tickets go on sale from the Southport Comedy Festival website now. Courtesy of Elite Marquees this year's festival will be staged once again in a giant luxury heated and seated marquee in Victoria Park, home of the world renowned Southport Flower Show. The 2022 event saw big names including:- Al Murray, Milton Jones, Jo Caulfield, Reginald D Hunter, and Ed Byrne. 

The festival team is busy programming this year's event with more names to be announced over the next few weeks and months.  People are being asked to keep an eye on the Southport Comedy Festival website, their social media pages and local and Regional press for big announcements and acts signed up to take part.

About the show... Jason Byrne The Ironic Bionic Man... "We can rebuild him!" Jason is, officially Bionic, "ironically" of course, as Jason, the accident prone, general unfortunate gobshite (to no want of his own) is now, half man, half machine. Born with a cock eye (then straightened), his lung collapsed (it was blown back up and sealed with metal pins), appendix removed, cartilage replaced in his knee from a poo-on-the-loo accident, arm dislocated by a wave, heart now functioning on 6 stents. Don't miss:- "THE IRONIC BIONIC MAN" as he brings us through his 1 man, half machine show. It's painfully hilarious.
 

Northern pre-empts season ticket 'scam' akin to 'Netflix password sharing'

NORTHERN has made it more difficult for fraudsters to cheat ticket checks on its trains in a scam the train operator says would have been akin to:- 'Netflix password sharing.' By introducing new Barcode Season Tickets, which 'live' within the Northern app and update repeatedly throughout the day, they have stopped fare evaders from being able to:- 'screenshot and share' season tickets for others to use. Customers are also required to upload a profile photograph when purchasing a Barcode Season Ticket, which displays alongside the barcode within the app and forms part of the ticket inspection. Barcode Season Tickets offer up to 33% off the regular cost of commuting between 2 stations on the Northern network and are available to adult customers as weekly or monthly options. For more information and details of how to buy a Barcode Season Ticket, please visit:- NorthernRailway.Co.UK.

Mark Powles, Commercial and Customer Director at Northern, said:- "Our season tickets are no different to people's gym memberships, store loyalty cards or indeed their Netflix account; they're designed for use by the person whose name is on the bill. Whilst upwards of 95% of the journeys made on our network are by customers who do the right thing and buy a ticket before they travel; for the remaining 5% that are made by people who attempt to travel without paying their way, switching these particular sales to Barcode Season Tickets will ensure only the device that made the purchase is able to satisfy checks by our conductors and ticket gatelines."

For customers travelling less frequently, Northern offers:- 'Flexi Season Tickets' which offer any 8 days travel in a 28 day window. For the benefit of all customers, Northern has invested in the largest network of digital ticket infrastructure of any train operator in the country, making it easier than ever to buy a ticket via their app, website or one of more than 600 ticket machines across the network. Northern is the 2nd largest train operator in the UK, with nearly 2,500 services a day to more than 500 stations across the North of England.