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

blondecaz

Yes I would definitely.

valk_scot

I'd contribute. I can't afford to drop £10 every day but I'd definately chip in a pound or two.

If it was abroad though I'd definately help out a fellow traveller. Have done so in fact. I was a student travelling home in the early 80's (no cash points and no easy ways to get money) and this middle aged couple were (complicated story) stranded at the airport for the next 24 hours, with no money whatsoever. I gave them every last drachma I had so they could at least get a drink and a snack, about £10 worth as it happens, which was a lot for a student in the 80's. And my address, though I wasn't hopeful. I got a cheque back in the post the following week, for £20.

Yeah she might be a scammer. Thing is, do I want to spend the rest of the day feeling I'd been mean and untrusting to a possibly needy fellow human being, or do I want to be out a pound or two and feel I'd done the right thing? It's worth the cash to get that morally sound glow, I would think!

nedg

Of course I would, assuming I hadn't also got on the wrong train with the wrong ticket! I remember last year on the trains in Amsterdam, 2 families, 11 in all, running from platform to platform because people kept telling us the wrong information! I was also given a tenner when I had ordered burgers for myself and my kids at a Wimpy and was then told that it was cash only! A complete stranger said here, and lent me a tenner! I couldnt thank him enough. He said he was there most nights and we took him the money back and a thank you card. I couldnt thank him enough. Wish I had given him some extra money though, still feel bad about that. :beer:
Its good to do nice things, like most people on here have said.

KatieMc83_2

Funnily enough a similar thing happened to me yesterday on the bus in Leeds city centre. I was on the bus going from work to nursery to pick my daughter up and there was a woman who had got on with an invalid (previous weeks) ticket. When the ticket inspector saw her ticket they tried to make her get off and she was begging and pleading with the inspector telling her in broken english that she had to pick a baby up and couldn't get off the bus. It held up the bus for ages because she was refusing to get off and to be honest I was ready to give her the £2 fare just so we could get on our way but the reaction from the people on the bus was madness - there was nearly a riot! People were screaming at her to get off the bus saying 'we've got kids to pick up ourselves and we've paid the right fare so p!ss off!!!' 'This is ridiculous get her off' etc.

So it's mad that so many people are saying oh yes without a doubt i'd hand over a tenner, when it actually happened yesterday and no one was willing to hand over 2 quid to help! I wonder if it would be different had she been English though...

Woodyrocks

Yes, I would for sure and have done and still do. I have had people be just as kind to me in the past when in the same situation. I had a guy buy me a train ticket to Birmingham from London a few years back as I missed my scheduled train and my cheapie ticket was non-transferable and I was SKINT. He literally saved me from being sacked without realising and I am now always happy to help someone in the same situation.

knottie

No! I've experienced this three times myself - once on train at midnight! One young man wanted 10p off of each passengers so that he could pay his fare - walked through the train asking for it!! I've also heard of people on coach holidays, saying they've lost their wallet/purse and the passengers having a whip-round, then being told at the end of the tour, the wallet/purse had been found.

[Deleted User]

elisebutt65 wrote: »

:rotfl:I did exactly this - got on the wrong train a few years ago and didn't have a beasn on me but the guard gave me a ticket - took my details and I had to pay the tenner by post so it's obviously changed. No !!!!!! volunteered to help me out them:rotfl:

However - these days I always have some sort of plastic on me, plus cash for the kids so I'd hope it wouldn't happen now.

Is that really your bum in your profile pic ?? LOL. :D:D

cakeordeath_2

Yep...she's abroad so can be difficult to pay by other means, she has bought a ticket so isn't scamming a free ride, and she's distraught...I'd give whatever I had spare and wish her all the best....no strings.

even if it was a scam, you probably wouldn't even find out, plus you've STILL done the right thing by helping out a fellow human being, they are the one in the wrong.

guidarufino

I actually did almost exactly this a few years ago. I was on a train coming up from London, feeling slightly delicate from a heavy weekend! The woman sitting behind me ran into trouble with the conductor as she didn't have enough money for where she wanted to go. She didn't speak a word of English and had a note which had been written by her daughter, I think, saying something like "please take me to xxx" and she had what I suppose she thought was the right money.

Evidently she didn't have enough money, I think she was £10 or £15 short. The poor woman, who was in her 60s roughly I'd say, had no idea what was going on. The conductor went away eventually and said that he'd be coming back at the stop prior to hers and kicking her off.

Naturally I didn't think he would actually do such a heartless thing and didn't think anything more about it until he came back and tried to turf her off the train. She had no idea what was going on and got really upset and refused to move.

So eventually I stepped in. I told the man that he was a totally heartless jobsworth and what difference did it make to him if this lady stayed on for one more stop? The train wasn't even full. I laid into him pretty thick, loudly enough for everyone to hear, told him he should be ashamed of himself etc etc then gave him the money. He tried to imply that she was just trying it on but that was so patently untrue, he just made himself sound like the self righteous pompous jobsworth that he was.

She still had no idea what had happened so I gave her a note to give to her relatives, explaining what had happened and giving my address if they wanted to send me the money back. Everyone said I'd never see that money again but, lo and behold, just a couple of days later, I got a cheque in the post along with a really lovely long letter saying that what I'd done was really kind and had saved this old lady from being stranded in the wrong town in a strange country with no money and no phone.

I kept that cheque on my mantlepiece for years as a testament to how lovely most people are. And a few weeks later, I won a really great digital camera in a competition I didn't even know I'd entered. I've still got the camera now, years later. If that isn't karma in action, I don't know what is! :rotfl:

Money_saving_Martyn

For me at the moment, £10 is an awful lot of money, even though I do go on holiday occasionally! (Working on £1 per meal for my main cooked dinner.... that's a week and half's worth of food!)

This highlights the need for us Brits to learn some foreign languages! I'm unlikely to hand over £10 (worth) of currency to a stranger or to pay for a stranger's train ticket. I speak a bit of French and German so I'd happily mediate/interpret. The thing is, if I had made this mistake I would probably tell the inspector I didn't have any money to avoid paying it - in the hope of simply getting off the train and getting on the correct one following behind at no extra cost. The inspectors are police officers so I doubt they have the right to detain you (other than under that country's citizen arrest rules).

I wonder how she would pay a £50 fine if she didn't have £10 to pay for the upgraded ticket.... if she can't pay either all the inspector can do is kick her off the train. This happened to a cheap-skate friend of mine on a tram in France. He wouldn't buy a ticket, got stopped once by an inspector and they demanded the fine NOW, or his details and the fine doubled for late(r) payment. I suspect by the time they'd have processed his info in the office he'd have left the country.... And you don't have to carry proof of address with you anyway.....

I'd happily help a Brit abroad if I could (despite the rudeness of the Brits I encountered in the France this year!), unfortunately I can't with £10. A few quid I'd probably do it....