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

easy

Forsure

Do you know, in your shoes I would have firmly planted a crutch on one of his feet, and leaned heavily on it (just to steady yourself as the train moved off, you understand.....)

What were these people taught by their mothers .....:eek: ??

Tiger_greeneyes

skintchick wrote: »

This thread is why tomorrow, when I need to go into central London, i'm going to burn some carbon and drive in rather than get the train and tube. I have better things to worry about than whether some selfish person will bother to offer me a seat when I can ensure I have one by being in my car for the journey.

Global footprint, schmobal footprint...

I don't blame you for wanting to drive into London. Rather you than me though :rotfl:

As for the comment above (which I've emboldened) I would like to say that it's really not selfish to sit in a seat you booked and paid for

You're doing the right thing by driving though, there's no selfish feelings on either side that way.

Tiger_greeneyes

Forsure wrote: »

Just been diagnosed with SPD - my sympathies go to you all !! I also have suffered from pre eclampsia in my past 2 pregnancies and my consultant reckons I will suffer from it again in this pregnancy so will need to be induced at 38 weeksand he has put me on aspirin, have already got 2 children to look after as well, so for all those people who are still saying they wouldnt offer a seat, please think about what you are saying before making a harsh comment.

I hardly ever travel on the train, but I di this morning on my way in to work.. The train was packed and so I did not expect anyone to get up for me ( like the other lady with SPD said ), but the stop after I got on, a lady got up out of her seat to get off ( a seat I was standing next to by the way ), so as I went to sit down a man jumped in it before I could even move ( I am alot slower due to the pain and discomfort of SPD ). I really could have said something, but thought ' whats the point '. he then took out his mobile and proceeded to play on it, knowing full well what he had just done....Oh and I was on crutches too..........

What a lovely guy !:mad:

The only people who've said anything harsh are the people who've disagreed with the people who've said 'no'

As for the man jumping into the seat like that, that's typical of commuters in London. I think the main culprits in this are the train companies - there's not enough trains and it costs a fortune to travel. It's not the fault of the commuters per se, my yearly travelcard used to cost me almost £5,000 a year. When you get up at 5.30am, travel for up to 5 hours a day and have a long, busy and knackering day at work, if there's a seat available then why wouldn't you want to sit in it?

One thing I'll never understand is why people choose to travel for leisure reasons during rush hour

mr-tom_2

Slightly off topic, but the one which annoys me is bikes.

One of my trains is a little local service which is absolutely jam packed (as bad as the underground at rush hour - you'd need a shoe horn to fit anybody else in the standing space...)

And yet cyclists insist on using it at rush hour, shoving their bikes into crowds of people who have nowhere to go and taking up the space of 4 people for the price of their one ticket.

Yes I understand the reasons for bikes being allowed on trains, but on overcrowded peak time services...?

I spoke to First Great Western about it once and raised the issue of Health and Safety and their duty of care.

The response of the Station Manager (Bristol Temple Meads) was priceless.

Well we've got to be green. Nobody has been seriously hurt yet and until they are, there's to need to change anything.

Tiger_greeneyes

What a terrible attitude Mr Tom. (Not you, the station manager.)

Following on from the peak-time non-commuting passengers, I remember seeing a woman with her four rather unruly kids on a commuter train. The kids were laying sprawled over a few seats and commuters (who pay through the nose for their tickets) were having to stand squished up in every available space. The woman's face was priceless - she couldn't see her little darlings because there were so many people having to stand - she went into one about how rude everyone was being. Where did she expect everyone to go? Why did she travel in rush hour if she wanted half a carriage to herself and her kids? Also, why do people think it's ok take suitcases on commuter trains and block off 2-4 seats and 3-4 standing spaces? In some areas it's impossible for a non-commuter to buy a ticket for rush hour travel, that should be the norm because it's a horrible situation for everyone to be in. It's really not fun to fall on a suitcase because you're being pushed to move over and make more room. Nobody sees the case,they see a load of empty seats and they think it's you being selfish because you won't move over to let more people on the train or let people sit down. It doesn't take much consideration to plan your journey around the peak times.

easy

Tiger_greeneyes wrote: »

It doesn't take much consideration to plan your journey around the peak times.

Oh come on guys, My guess is that the mum with the kids was trying to get to an appointment somewhere, and the chap with the suitcase was travelling to catch a plane.

Just because you are not commuting to a job, doesn't mean you can make every journey at your own convenience....

If you hate the commuting business so much, live nearer your work or change your job. Don't just grumble about the rest of society taking up YOUR space

I'm afraid your post, Tiger-greeneyes, seemed very arrogant and self-important. Public transport is provided for use by the PUBLIC, all of them, whenever they need to use it.

Tiger_greeneyes

There's nothing arrogant about it at all, you've misinterpreted my meaning.

There's a lot of moaning about commuters in this thread by the 'public' and nobody seems to see it from the commuters angle. I was simply putting forward that side of things into the debate. I fail to see what could be arrogant about that?

I was also pointing out that the woman I mentioned (part of the 'public' you mention) was being arrogant for wanting half a carriage to herself despite travelling in rush hour. I honestly don't care where they were going because that wasn't the issue. The fact she had her four kids laying down and taking 3 seats each when they could have all sat in 3 seats if you sat one on her lap, and the fact she had them all spread out and expected nobody to stand in the gangway to block her view was very selfish. You're talking about 9 seats and around the same in standing room (if not a bit more). For the sake of them taking up less space would have let up to 20 more people on the train. If that's not arrogant and selfish, I don't know what is.

As for suitcases - the commuter trains I always caught had luggage stowaways just inside the doors - nobody needed to take up standing or sitting room with their suitcase if they'd stowed it in the luggage compartment. How come me putting forward another aspect into the argument is considered arrogant but this sort of selfish behaviour is considered acceptable?

Kind of a bit warped imho.

Bogof_Babe

Welcome to the forums Elbel. (That's polite and "manners" I think, although contrary to what you say, manners are not "obligatory").

Your post is not exactly How to Win Friends is it? Had a bad day?

Never mind, do keep posting. We need a bit of righteous indignation now and then.

juno

If you'd asked me a few years ago, I would have given up my seat unquestionably. If I was fit and healthy now, I still would. But I had to stand on a short bus journey recently and it left me in so much pain for the rest of the day that I really couldn't give up my seat

Tiger_greeneyes

Elbel - have you read the terms & conditions of MSE? I think you'll find that personal attacks and abuse are against forum regulations

I appreciate you say you are inexperienced at using forums but a top tip would be to read everything and get your facts straight before hitting the 'submit reply' button. Out of interest, have you read the rest of the thread? If you have, why are you ignoring what has already posted and just picking and choosing comments to attack people with rather than simply joining in the debate? We're all entitled to our opinion but there's no reason be rude because you don't agree with other people's point of view And as for calling people 'self-righteous', that's the funniest and most ironic comment I've come across for a long time :rotfl: