Chiltern Railways responds after social distancing seat cover appears to be listed on Depop as a crop top

The company said it appreciates this ‘new take on railway memorabilia’

(Chiltern Railways)

Chiltern Railways has asked passengers to leave their Covid social distancing safety signs "in place" after one appeared to have been fashioned into a crop top on fashion marketplace, Depop.

The blue material signs, which are wrapped around the seats on the company's trains, reads: "Keep this seat free to maintain social distancing when possible".

It also features an image of two passengers sat on a bench and the logo for Chiltern Railways.

Last night, social media account @depopdrama, which has a combined Twitter and Instagram following of over 600k, shared an image which appeared to show one of the signs for sale as a crop top.

The viral post, which was captioned "I am lost for words", included an image of the train seat cover alongside what looked to be a screenshot from Depop showing a model wearing a "crop top" of the same design. 

The product description read: "social distancing children [sic] railways crop got a few of these can do different sizes" and was being listed for £15 per top.

Chiltern Railways responded to the initial tweet, saying: “Hi there, thanks for letting us know about this, we've raised to the relevant team.”

When contacted by The Independent, Chiltern Railways asked that customers leave their signs "in place".

A spokesperson for the company said: "Whilst we appreciate this new take on railway memorabilia, these items are there to help customers travel with confidence and we would respectfully ask that they are left in place".

At time of writing, Depop Drama's tweet had attracted almost 300,000 likes.

One Twitter user joked that Chiltern Railways should hire the creator of the crop top, adding that it would be a great move for publicity and "social relevance".

While another joked that the train company had, in fact, stolen their design from the Depop seller: "I can't believe you've stole [sic] your design from a poor girl trying to make a living in these hard times".