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The man behind parody site Arriva Trains Fails says he will not remove his adapted logo from its Facebook page even though Arriva Trains Wales has threatened him with legal action.

Arriva Trains Wales (ATW) bosses were left red-faced because people searching on Google for the firm were being confronted with a logo with the words “Arriva Trains Fails”.

The German-based transport giant threatened legal action against the Facebook page “Arriva Trains Fails – Wales” after search giant Google picked up its parody logo instead of the official branding.

The page, which has more than 4,000 likes, was set up to highlight issues with the beleaguered rail operator.

The man behind the page, Steve Fletcher, said it was set up in 2014 and said he has never had any problems with it before.

The following message was posted on the Arriva Trains Fails Facebook page in March: “I‘ve just been threatened with legal action from Arriva Trains Wales over the banner across the top of this page.

“Apparently if you Google ‘Arriva trains’ it appears as their brand logo! I’ve got until the April 4 to comply otherwise they’ll ‘pursue their legal remedies’.”

At the time Arriva Trains Wales said it is important the company maintains consistent branding on platforms such as Google to avoid confusion for customers and to protect the Arriva logo.

For this reason, the company asked Mr Fletcher to remove the image which has only recently been picked up by Google’s search criteria.

When Mr Fletcher, from Cardiff , first received the message he said he didn’t know what he was going to do.

But now the page administrator, who is on the company’s passenger panel, has claimed he will not remove the banner because he doesn’t think it affects the company’s trademark.

The following message has been posted on the parody site’s Facebook page: “So, the #Logogate latest:

“I’ve politely told ATW that I won’t be removing the below image as I don’t feel it infringes their trademark for Arriva Trains Wales.

“Why? Turns out they haven’t got one.

“I’m struggling to find the right word to describe the depths of ineptitude being encountered here.”

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Mr Fletcher claimed Arriva has a trademark but that Arriva Trains Wales doesn’t.

“He said I was on pretty solid ground so I decided not to take it down,” he said.

“The other thing is their problem should be with Google - not me.

“I gave them the reply on April 4 but I haven’t heard from them since.”

Barry Lloyd, head of customer experience at Arriva Trains Wales, said: “We can confirm that Arriva Group does hold the trademark for the Arriva name and logo.

“Mr Fletcher remains a valued member of our Passenger Panel and we will continue to work closely with him and Google to resolve the matter.”