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

*CheshireBelle*

Tiger_greeneyes wrote: »

How is that harsh when there has been so much personal abuse in this thread?

How on earth can it be harsh if she's putting herself in that position, nobody is forcing her to travel. She's pregnant, not stupid. It's HER choice!

I never said she was stupid :rolleyes: Do you work? Do you have children?

I could have quite easily refused to travel to work when I was pregnant and taken maternity leave earlier, but it was my CHOICE to work for longer and have more time with my son once he was born. It was hard enough going back to work when he was 5 months old because I'd had my 6 months OML, so the thought of going back much earlier is horrid.

This thread is about a MORAL dilemma, not the stupidity of people. In fact I am rather shocked at the lack of decency of most people that have replied to this thread :rolleyes:

Tiger_greeneyes

blue_monkey wrote: »

I have to laugh at this thread and that it is still going, 'how selfish of a mum to be to consider going on a train that might be busy' and 'how dare she not book a ticket, she should have considered that other people might be on the train' and 'she should of thought about that before getting pregnant', blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I've an idea, why not just ban pregnant women from public transport - in fact, let's not let anyone disabled or old use the trains and buses too because they might need a seat too. That'll solve the seat problem.

If you need to find an excuse not to show kindness to others then you have a huge chip on your shoulder - and yes, they are all excuses - pathetic ones at that. Kindness costs nothing and you'll get a warm glow inside and it'll cheer you up unless you are a miserable bar steward that feels everyone owes you something. The train will stop soon and then another seat will become free. I'll will being my children up to show kindness to others and to do the right thing. And we wonder why we have a generation of people who treat others like crap and will not offer help to anyone!! Dur!!

5 hour train journeys are never non-stop so sooner or later another seat will come up and hey, I can also sit on my backside on the floor if need be. I might even try and get down the carriage to find another seat. A mum to be with a bump will not be able to do that on a busy train but was also not able to get down the platform before the train moved off.

It must be wonderful living in that self righteous, 'world owes me something' kind of world that you do.

And the train you are on might be long distance for you but to someone else it might be a commuter route from one town to the next. As for not taking suitcases onto trains - are you serious?? Why on earth do you think people are on the train for 5 hours? To go shopping? Get a coffee? Work? I would have thought that they are going on holiday and for that they need.... suitcases.

None of that has any relevance to the question in post no.1. In fact, you've completely made most of that up because no-one else has mentioned half the stuff you've accused people of :rolleyes:

Until you stop getting so b1tchy and personal and can be bothered to hold an adult conversation, I'm not going to bother engaging in any conversation with you, frankly. I'd rather have a debate with a brick wall than go around in circles with complete irrelevance :rolleyes:

Tiger_greeneyes

*CheshireBelle* wrote: »

I never said she was stupid :rolleyes: Do you work? Do you have children?

I could have quite easily refused to travel to work when I was pregnant and taken maternity leave earlier, but it was my CHOICE to work for longer and have more time with my son once he was born. It was hard enough going back to work when he was 5 months old because I'd had my 6 months OML, so the thought of going back much earlier is horrid.

This thread is about a MORAL dilemma, not the stupidity of people. In fact I am rather shocked at the lack of decency of most people that have replied to this thread :rolleyes:

I didn't say you said she was stupid :rolleyes: My point was - and I'll repeat myself for you and elaborate slightly - was that she's not stupid, she's pregnant she can make up her own mind whether she wants to risk travelling. She is perfectly able to make her own decisions on whether it's worth it. Or do you disagree with that? :rolleyes:

I'm also shocked at some of the replies in this thread but for completely different reasons - everyone is entitled to their own opinions yet a select few of the very people who consider themselves to have moral high ground have been exceptionally rude at times. Maybe if they actually read the question we were asked and read the rest of the thread before getting so humpty at the rest of us it would be a nicer thread all round.

As for the rest of it, where's the relevance? Why do you ask if I have kids or work? It's none of your business, frankly.

Tiger_greeneyes

Ebenezer_Screwj wrote: »

No. Heavily pregnant women must be held responsible for their own action in travelling alone.

I couldn't agree more. If she travelled and the worst happened then as she made the decision to travel, it's down to her. I know I'll be called harsh again but I guess there are people out there who don't believe in taking responsibility for themselves and their own actions. Personally speaking, the victim mentality makes me shudder.

That principle should be extended to everyone, no matter what they do.

Bogof_Babe

The point about "manners" and "courtesy" that keeps being harped on, is that these are social graces that cost the giver nothing, e.g. opening a door for someone, helping them on with their coat.

What is being proposed here is that some unfortunate traveller who has booked and paid for their journey in good faith, ensuring they book a seat because they don't want to have to stand, is expected to be self-sacrificing enough to forfeit their own comfort for that of a stranger.

Not only is this being mooted as the only acceptable act in the given circumstances, but they are being abused to the point of disgust for simply choosing to stick with their original arrangements.

Saints please stand on the left, everyone else carry on as you were. That's all we want to do, carry on as we were, without having to compensate for someone else's hardship by taking it on ourselves.

I will always hold a door open for anyone, but I will not voluntarily stand on a rail journey for five hours, when my prudence and planning have organized a more comfortable journey for my trouble.

Qwibbles

My wife was 8 1/2 months pregnant and used to regulary travel into London. She always booked her seat but found people sat in the seat's who normally refused to move as someone was sat in there reserved seats. I travelled once with her on the train into london as was quite shocked by peoples attitudes. People were sat in the reserved seats, and when I asked them if one of the could let my wife sit down, as both seats were reserved in our names, they just ignored me. I found the train conductor and he suggested we found somewhere else to sit ... not sure what the point of reserving a seat. We asked if he had seen any free seats inthe train or first class and he siad no sorry the train is full. My wife and I sat on the floor in the end.

I was travelling to London recently and politely asked a young man to remove himself from my reserved seat, so a pregent lady could sit down, being a 6ft+ Ex rugby player that did the trick.

Or maybe I should just start removing people from my reserved seat(s) by force :-)

Can't wait to we get gun licenses :-) lol

I will always give up me seat for an elderly / sick or pregnant person ... YOU WILL BE THAT PERSON ONE DAY. (Well maybe not pregnant ... ).

Tiger_greeneyes

I wish the train companies/conductors would do something about the people who sit in other people's reserved seats and refuse to budge. It seems odd that you enter into a contract that the company isn't bothered about sticking to. I'm sure if it was the other way around they'd be issuing all sorts of threats to anyone breaching their contract if it inconvenienced them.

mr-tom_2

Tiger_greeneyes wrote: »

I'm sure if it was the other way around they'd be issuing all sorts of threats to anyone breaching their contract if it inconvenienced them.

Yes well they have their own private police force who seem to do exactly what the companies tell them to...

I use a monthly season ticket, and you can't renew them more than a day in advance, and it generally expires whilst I'm on holiday or at the weekend etc.

My start station has no staff, and they won't let their train staff issue monthly tickets for some reason, so I have to do it at the destination station when this happens.

(There is now an online option, but for about a year that didn't work).

And about half the time, I get threatened with police action for travelling without a ticket that they won't actually sell me until I reach my destination...

reddevilled

Up until my wife was pregnant if I'm being honest no I wouldn't have given up my seat, but her being pregnant has changed the way I see things and yes I would always give my seat up now, even if I'd booked in advance.

Bogof_Babe

I often find on Sundays (yesterday was a case in point) that they don't bother to ticket the reserved seats anyway, so people get on and just sit wherever they fancy. Can't really blame them in that situation as there is no way of knowing which are reserved and which aren't.

In fact I wonder if when they don't ticket the seats, the reservation is deemed void anyway. After all, we don't pay any extra for a reserved seat nowadays.