Fake SNCB behaviour stickers brighten commuters' day

Parody stickers that mimic Belgian railway operator SNCB's signage but contain humorous text have been spotted on trains and in stations, garnering significant social media attention and even amusing SNCB itself.

The stickers come from Ward Rombaut, a 25-year-old graphic designer from Bruges, RTBF reports.

One reads: "No available seats? Please let a passenger sit on your lap." Another forbids speaking French but ends with a "merci", in a nod to a recent controversy over an SNCB conductor who received a formal complaint for saying "bonjour" to a customer while a train was technically in Flanders, though just outside of Brussels.

Some are simply images, for example ones that forbid UFOs, vacuuming, proposing marriage, transporting large fish, giving presentations or wearing shoes.

Some people have been fooled by the stickers’ resemblance to official SNCB signage.

A Dutch Instagram account with more than 300,000 followers reposted Rombaut's video showing a sticker that reads: "Seat heating = €3.90."

“The idea came to me during multiple train journeys between Bruges and Vilvoorde,” Rombaut said.

“One day, I saw a sticker at Vilvoorde station. So I used my machine to create stickers myself.

"I think the success comes from the fact that many stickers don't rely on text, so the message can be understood all over the world."

Rombaut is a freelance graphic designer who creates animations for the Flemish satirical TV programme De Ideale Wereld, whose studios are located in Vilvoorde. He said his creations are intended to make people laugh without hurting anyone’s feelings.

“I play with the absurd, with parodies,” he explained. “I'm a fan of SNCB. The idea is not to bash SNCB – I want to make people laugh, not hurt them.

"I’ve often received messages from people who have told me that my stickers have brightened up their day and made their commute more light-hearted."

When a warning was posted beneath one of the stickers explaining that "Securail is watching you" - a reference to the railway security authority - Rombaut made that warning into a sticker and placed it beside it in response.

SNCB said the humour was appreciated. “They’re funny,” said spokesperson Dimitri Temmerman.

“They’re clearly a joke. I saw one of these stickers myself and it made me laugh. In principle, it's not allowed, but we're not going to go on a manhunt.

"If our teams find one during cleaning, they will remove it. It's above all humorous, and certainly not vandalism."