MONEY MORAL DILEMMA. Would you give up a £50 train seat for a pregnant woman?

brightonman123

on a bus, no problem.. but if i had the option to book a seat, so could she..?

£50 is £50.


its not like she suddenly became pregnant on the train..

pennybee_2

Without a doubt...kindness costs nothing. I would have so appreciated it when I was pregnant.

joannedavidson80

When i was pregnant with my eldest i often had to travel on the very busy commuter train which was always jam-packed although usually at least 1 person would offer me their seat i'd never accept, as has been said above if i'd really wanted a seat i'd have booked to make sure i got one. Do think train companies should take more responsibility for how many people they try to cram on some trains tho!

smk77

brightonman123 wrote: »

on a bus, no problem.. but if i had the option to book a seat, so could she..?

£50 is £50.


its not like she suddenly became pregnant on the train..

Have you read any of the thread? Don't assume that she could have booked a seat.

I can't believe that someone is still posting this reason even though it's been posted so many times already and enough people have commented on how she may have needed to make an urgent journey!

At least read paulabear's comment above.

Valbear

Yes I'd stand.

Your chances of finding a member of staff on a over crowded train are remote, especially at a weekend or bank holiday. I'd give up my seat and go and sit in first class, if I could get there of course! I travel regularly from Birmingham to London, and have often been unable to get to my reserved seat because the train is just too crowded.

On a similar topic, if you were on a commuter service with no reserved seats would you give up your seat for a pregnant or clearly disabled person? I've commuted wth my friend who is obviously disabled and people have pushed her out of the way to get to a seat first. She challenges them and asks for a seat, but not many disabled people I know would have the confidence to do that.

shonarose

joannedavidson80 wrote: »

When i was pregnant with my eldest i often had to travel on the very busy commuter train which was always jam-packed although usually at least 1 person would offer me their seat i'd never accept, as has been said above if i'd really wanted a seat i'd have booked to make sure i got one.

I apologise if this is slightly off-topic, but I would rarely turn someone down if they offered me a seat - unless getting off at the next stop, in which case, thank them profusely and explain. Some people have mentioned a reluctance to offer in case the offer is refused/misunderstood/causes offence - if you offer and someone refuses you do feel a bit foolish/rejected, so I'd actually consider it good manners to graciously accept, as an appreciation of their kind gesture. Even if you aren't going far, you can always return the seat to the original occupant, or pass on the favour to someone else who looks in need.

Valbear

Its not as easy as you think to get a free upgrade to first class. Its down to the train manager, and I've met some right jobworths in my time.

One of my fiends who's blind and has a guide dog was told there was no way she could travel in first class, and what was wrong with standing as the dog had legs! Another blind friend was told to get a later train as it wasn't safe for her to travel and she'd have to pay the full upgrade if she wanted to travel in first class. Weekend First is only avaialble on some trains, and not usually on cross country services.

Supportspice

So many points of view and I cant disagree with many of them.

Personally, yes I would and I do (not just to pregnant women.) I am capable of standing and feel thankful for that.

If he reads this excellent forum... thank you to the gentleman that helped me lift a wheelchair bound man (a stranger called Chris) off an underground train a few weeks ago, I went to help after his front wheels became trapped between the train and the platform when he tried to get on (at a "disabled friendly station." )

I will reserve my comments on the 'attendant' who called the trains departure regardless of this situation.

Nefertare

No one is suggesting pregnant women get special treatment. They are suggesting that anyone in obvious discomfort or pain or danger be shown some modicrom of empathy and concern. Instead a lot of posters on here are more concerned with passing judgement on people for their 'lifestyle choices', assuming that they've neglected to do something that they should have done and with getting their moneys worth. Truthfully the pregnant woman has no way too of knowing if anyone sat near her is disabled etc...but to assume a packed train doesn't hold one able bodied person is absurd. Apparently to assume it doesn't hold one unselfish and polite person is not.

I despair when i hear people bleat on about the selfishness and immorality of politians, the 'youth of today' having no respect or manners and immigrants having no respect for the country they've chosen to move to. Well what do you expect when one blog throws up responses like this one has - I wonder where the kids are learning it from? One act of kindness to a fellow human being in need - that's ALL the issue is here. If you choose to make it all about money then what does that say about you? I realise this is posted on a money related blog so the assumption is that money is the issue, but surely concern for your fellow humans should override that? What is the point of life if that is the case? I'm an atheist, but I don't think that life is all about my comfort, my success or my wealth. I want to help out where I can, I give to charity, I volunteer, I help out friends and family in need, I get up when people who need the seat more get on the bus or train, I say please and thank you, I help out when someone falls on the street...I ain't perfect by any means, but I have a minimum level of manners that I always try to live by because I believe that once you start pre-judging a situation and divyign out kind acts based on the 'worth' of the situation as you see it - without any of the facts, no matter all - then you've become a selfish miser and you contribute nothing to this planet, you just take.

And whilst some on here consider the mere act of getting pregnant to be selfishness, that's absurd. We're built to procreate, whilst yes we are getting too numerous, to just stop would be disasterous - we have an aged population, we need people of working age to support it - or do you also propose that we start culling those over working age so that we don't need young people to support them? Something needs to be done yes, but stopping all procreation isn't the answer. Nor is blaming societies ills on 'benefits scroungers' when it's clearly the case that corruption, immorality and selfishness infects every class of British society so perhaps the problems is that manners, consideration and kindness are being lost because 'numero uno' is seen as more important?

I'm going to hope that those posting the 'over-populated' responses aren't suggesting that they would not be concerned for the child if the women did suffer a fall or a jolt and the child's life was in jeapardy purely because their opinion is that it would be one more burden on an already over-burdened planet. I'll also hope that they are leading by example and don't own TVs, computers or other electricity gussling devices in their homes, that they don't own a car or motorbike because they are concerned for the environment and that they never ever use air travel? Oh and of course they only shop locally and never support multi-national corporations known to trade in human misery and ignore environmental legislation...Ah yes and that they never have sex since no form of contraception is 100% effective.

oh and in regards to adoption as one lady mentioned - yes it is a great idea to encourage more adoptions. Worldwide in fact since the number of children on adoption lists (as opposed to foster care lists which are astronomically high) in the UK doesn't come close to demand and a stupid social services system insists that foster care rotations for years and years on the chance that the parents might get it together and be able to have the kids back is a better system than ensuring the child is in a secure family from an earlier age. Put the child's welfare first - too much emphasis is on the parents to reform, give them a chance, but not fifty chances and ten years. Perhaps if a better system was in place and less emphasis put on IVF and other such treatments for those unable to procreate naturally we could start matching the childless with the children who need families. I'm hoping one day to adopt.

In summary, get over yourself. No one is saying this women is more worthy or more important (I happen to believe that no one is more important than anyone else). they are saying at that moment in time she is in need more than an able bodied person and a simple act of kindness is all that is needed. One day you will be in a position where you need a simple act of kindness from a fellow person, you've probably already benefited from it and been happy for it. If not, then you've been very lucky not to have been. I've fallen on broken pavements in busy streets, dropped my motorbike once (and was too weak to pick it up - the shame!), been lost (before the days of sat nav), and been caught out by a faulty mobile phone dying even though it was fully charged and I needed to call someone urgently and in all these situations people have helped me out, sometimes at cost to themselves and they've done it with a smile on their face. This gives me hope that there are still people out there who see beyond their own needs and comfort.

Forsure_2

I cannot believe this post is getting to the lengths it has been. I also forgot to mention that wehn I went to New York in 2007 and was 6 mths pregnant with my daughter, I was instantly offered a seat on the subway, in fact people could not have been more assisiting and courteous. Considering it was approx 5pm and it was chocca with shoppers, I was still invited to sit down.

And I thought Americans were supposed to be alot more rude ? Guess I was wrong :j