MONEY MORAL DILEMMA. Would you contribute to a stranger’s train ticket?

dave2

Is she fit?

Tianguis

Oh people <...sighs..> if you are in a bad financial situation, then I can understand if you have responded negatively; Give another person (or renew in another person) the faith that the 'milk of human kindness' still exists!! Of course pay the fare.....without question.

agudbuk

If she was pretty I might consider it.
If she was a cud chewing chavy 20stone slapper no way.

Not that I'm a sexist pig :-)

brunix

BeenieCat wrote: »

If it was in England, then no i wouldn't cos i'm skint and i'd just think it was a bit careless of her not to get the right ticket,m even though i would sympathise.

However, because it was in a foreign country i would feel compelled to help a fellow English person, as i know it can be scary in other countries, particularly using public transport.

:-) I find this funny since the only country i'm aware of where this could happen is..England (different train companies charging scary prices and not accepting each other's tickets on the same route..) .. usually rail networks are public and integrated abroad (at least in continental Europe)

I'd help in any way if I thought this was a genuine accident (i just lost an airport coach abroad and had to get an expensive taxi, withdraw cash at airport etc. so sympathetic that this can happen)

maddigunn

Personally I don't think this presents much of a dilemma. I would not hesitate to offer to lend the distraught lady the £10 needed and would think this would be most people's reaction. Hopefully she would reimburse me at a laterdate, you have to trust people to do the right thing!

piglet6

Yes, I would give her the £10 (assuming I had it on me, which hopefully I would!). I would not ask her to re-pay me, but ask her to "pay it forward", i.e. next time she sees somebody who needs help, to help them instead. I truly believe that it is very likely that one day I will need help ("there but for the grace of God...") and when I do, I hope that somebody is around to help me in my "hour of need"...

I have done this several times on local buses, as I live in central London, where foreign tourists regularly get onto a bus with a large note (because that is all the cash machine spits out at them :rolleyes:), and the bus driver refuses to change it for them...so have offered them a ticket (when they sold travel tickets in books of 6 for £6, I always kept a book in the back of my Oyster card, for emergencies) or a £1 coin. In that instance, I just hope that the tourists go home with a "good" vibe that not all Londoners are unfeeling, miserable people who are unfriendly towards tourists(!) .

Piglet
x

Ansy

I would without hesitation. You never know when you are going to be in that position.

bigw81

Saw a young man (twenties) on a late night train through North of England - conductor was going to put him off train as he hadn't paid his fare - he was in tears because when he went to the cash machine he'd had unexpected bank charges slapped on his account, meaning he couldn't withdraw the fare to get home. He needed to get home a) to borrow some cash from his dad and b) to get to work the next day, otherwise he'd be in danger of losing his job. Lovely conductor was going to make him get off train in the dark in the middle of nowhere, tiny stop in the countryside - knowing he had no way of making his way onwards.

I paid his £5.60 fare to get him home - he offered to post it to me, blah blah - I just told him to 'pay it on'. ie: if ever he sees someone in same position, really stuck and looks genuine, to help them out. You've no way of definitely knowing if its a con, but I for one am prepared to take a punt on helping someone out.

And just for the record, the conductor proceeded to give me a lecture on how 'people take advantage of the trains, he had deliberately boarded without paying his fare, etc etc'. Get real - people have problems, give them a helping hand.

pleideanqueen

Of course. :A

SpiderFreak24

Initially i thought to myself, yes, i would help out. then thought - if it was an irish woman would your contributors be so quick to offer assistance?

being irish, its a no brainer. we irish know well what its like to be the underdog in a foreign land, so help would be at hand, regardless of nationality. tenner would be produced - and without condition.:A