Would YOU pay £159 for a strangers train ticket?

Fireflyaway

On a regular basis there is a woman outside our train station who approaches people acting all flustered claiming to not have enough money to get home. Last time I told her I recognised her from a few months back and she went. I would love to help anyone in crisis if I had the means but would always be wondering if they were genuine.

London_Town

Although I'm not a parent, I can understand when people say they would give a stranger money, as it could be their son or daughter and they'd want someone else to do the same thing.

However, I have to admit, my first thought when I originally saw this story, was - would he have paid for the ticket if the "victim" hadn't been young and conventionally attractive? As another poster has already put it, would the guy have bought a ticket for a smelly middle aged man? Who knows...

To answer the question, no, I wouldn't have done it for a stranger. To me, £159 is an astronomical amount of money and I'm perplexed as to how anyone with a normal job could afford or justify that cost.

It's shocked me to hear how many scammers are around, as I rarely use trains. I did once have a woman ask me for petrol money at a motorway service station. The request was delivered in an utterly deadpan way, with some reference to a grandmother in hospital. I just blanked her and saw the same reaction from everyone else. Apparently this is a well known scam too.

If I thought someone was genuinely in trouble, I would always help if I could, but not necessarily with money.

annandale

Some people might stand outside train stations looking for their train fare. It doesn't mean it happens everywhere or that everyone who does it is a scanner.

Its irrelevant whether he would have bought a ticket for a smelly middle aged man.

Has nothing to do with this story.

London_Town

annandale wrote: »

Some people might stand outside train stations looking for their train fare. It doesn't mean it happens everywhere or that everyone who does it is a scanner.

Its irrelevant whether he would have bought a ticket for a smelly middle aged man.

Has nothing to do with this story.

But surely it has everything to do with this story? We don't know whether that was a bias that even he wasn't necessarily aware of.

Marvel1

annandale wrote: »

The girl in this story didn't receive any money. She got a train ticket..

The question of the thread is would you pay for a strangers train ticket? Nothing stopping someone having free travel on a regular basis.

Some are genuine and some are not.

annandale

Your last link referred to people asking for money, that's why I said that she didn't receive any money.

As for him paying for the girls ticket, it clearly said that he paid for the ticket because he has daughters and his thoughts were, what if something like this happened to them.

No smelly middle aged man approached him for help, do we really have to argue the what if it wasn't a young girl who needed help to make some point? Point that he wouldn't help everyone if they asked him for help? What difference does that make to what he actually did for this girl?

Are people supposed to not give support to someone because they think hang on, I'm giving this young girl help, what would I do if a smelly middle aged man approached me instead?

So far in this thread we've had ridiculous scenarios thought up that didn't happen. Shes been criticised for offering the money back via twitter, she was criticised for not offering money back (even though that wasn't the case) and now people are nit picking because there's got to be debate about would he have given the money if a smelly middle aged man had approached him?

If a smelly middle aged man and the young girl had approached him and he turned down him to give the money to her I could see the point but that's not what happened. There's no bias shown towards anyone if only one person asked him for help, which is what happened.

He helped a young girl but I bet he wouldn't have helped a smelly middle aged man! Its just negative and none of us know what he would have done in that situation, but that wasn't the situation that unfolded was it?

Its not free travel if she offered to give the money back is it? And if there are people who regularly scam people for money with the same story, people do have the option of saying no don't they?

catkins

Yes if I could afford it I would pay the ticket.

Loz01

I couldn't afford to drop £159 but I would offer to pitch some in if I thought someone was in distress. An old lady in Aldi was a couple of quid short the other week and I gave it to her, not exactly a lot but thats life, if we can't help each other now and again then its a sad world isn't it?

Thefunkygibbons

Of course I would, and more besides


It is a sign of the times that people are more worried about being taken for a ride than helping someone.

Squirrel2000

Without question, I would.