Virgin on the ridiculous

Date: 05/06/1997

Some things even money cannot buy - such as a guaranteed listing in the Belgian phone book.

Poor old millionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson may own his own airline, his own paradise island, his own world-wide record store chain as well as being a would-be round-the-world balloonist and a have-a-go high-speed transatlantic yachtsman and doubtless many other things, but it appears that it is easier for a rich man to go through the eye of a needle than enter the Belgacom listings.

Virgin Express chief executive Jonathan Ornstein spent millions of dollars advertising the airline, only to discover that there was no number in the Belgian directory for customers to ring.

That was almost a year ago and still there are problems - the Virgin megastore in Brussels is now taking up to 250 calls a day from people trying to book flights.