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

Former_MSE_Wendy · 8 September 2009 at 3:41PM

Here's this week's hypothetical situation for you to cogitate on:

You’re on the train abroad, overhearing a ticket inspector talking to an English woman behind you. She hands her ticket to be checked but is told she’s got the wrong ticket (another network covers the same route) so she must pay £10 cash there and then or face a £50 fine. She's distraut as she doesn't have the cash on her, and starts asking if anyone would help.

Would you contribute to a stranger’s train ticket?

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Noggin_the_Nog_2 · 8 September 2009 at 8:20PM

I'd pay the £10 for her and I would ask her, when she gets home, to donate the £10 to one of the charities I support, using the Justgiving.com charity donation site, where people can donate online to nearly 8,000 registered charities; they even add gift aid automatically for those eligible. You'll easily find any charity on there.

I've done this already several times on local buses. Visitors to my town quite often use the bus I'm on to get to the railway station but the driver often can't change their tenner or twenty so I give them the £1.50 or so they need for their fare. In return, I ask them to donate the amount I've given them to ME Research UK or the ME Association's Ramsay Research Fund via any of their supporters' pages on Justgiving.com.

No one has let me down yet and people typically add a bit on top! I suppose you might get the occasional scammer or deadbeat but I'd rather trust to human nature most of the time. Asking people to give the money to charity rather than arranging for them to pay you back is less embarrassing all round, so I think that this is a good solution, as long as you're prepared to give that amount to charity (via the person in distress) and to trust people. Doing this also helps promote the JustGiving site, which is of benefit to all charities.

geri1965_2 · 8 September 2009 at 8:22PM

If I had it, yes. Hopefully other passengers would join in and we'd all pay a little bit each.

What's the relevance of her being English, by the way?

Minxy_Bella · 8 September 2009 at 8:23PM

Yes, I'd bail her out and not think twice about it, tbh.

elsien · 8 September 2009 at 8:24PM

Not sure - a bit too reminiscent of the cons where people pretend they've lost their wallet/tickets etc.
If I really thought she was genuine I'd help out, but being skint I'd be unlikely to have the full £10 anyway.

scotsbob · 8 September 2009 at 8:33PM

Of course I would, it's only a tenner and I remember the day I was poor and penniless.

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McKneff · 8 September 2009 at 9:13PM

I would probably organise a whip round.

moneypenny2k · 8 September 2009 at 10:08PM

elsien wrote: »

Not sure - a bit too reminiscent of the cons where people pretend they've lost their wallet/tickets etc.
If I really thought she was genuine I'd help out, but being skint I'd be unlikely to have the full £10 anyway.

Yep, I agree none of us wish to feel like we've been scammed. However, I'd rather give to 99 people that are on the take, rather than ignore the one person that really really needs the help.

tallgirld · 8 September 2009 at 10:09PM

In a word............ NO.

Sbarkia · 8 September 2009 at 10:18PM

Definitely if I had it. I too would rather trust people. That way I may be permanently skint but at least I can live with my conscience.

jackdaw · 8 September 2009 at 10:24PM

no, because £10 is more than I can afford and it could be a scam.

I sympathise with her but I've made mistakes unwittingly myself or had things happen to me e.g. burgled.. it happens in life.. I swallow it up and learn from it.

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

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