Bizarre incident on train...

Sanctimonious shite.

I suspect the man and the two women were working together. Am I right in thinking the two women were sat on one side of you, then he came and sat on the other side, getting too close and starting to act weird, and then the two women started acting off too? So you were sandwiched between them?

it’s a pretty classic trick to disorient someone by making them feel vulnerable on both flanks.

Have you checked you’ve still got all your valuables.

Oh, I once had a man/boy to stick his head inbetween the seats on the train /he was behind me/ and said something about wanting to talk. It scared the hell out of me. I almost got up and ran. Then I decided it too much work to pick up all my belongings to move so I decided he was being just very awkward but not dangerous.

You have no idea who you’re dealing with so personally, even if simply from a safety perspective, I would be calm, respectful and polite to everyone.
I agree with @Gribbit987 on this si I would try to be polite but discouraging. However deep down I would want to answer the same as you OP, or even worse.

By the way it’s a very strange remark from these two girls so I wonder maybe they’ve spotted that this guy had additional needs? It wouldn’t change much as additional needs might actually call for a direct and clear approach. Too much politeness might be wrongly seen as you being interested in him and make things worse.

People talk about rudeness as though it's a uniformly bad thing. There are a lot worse things in life than being rude. If it protects us from being drawn into situations with which we're uncomfortable, all to the good. It's frustrating that in every circumstance, women have to risk-assess this kind of thing very carefully. Piss off another woman and you risk a verbal confrontation; piss off a man and you could be followed, intimidated, even killed.

I'd be very careful what I said to anyone in London, going by my own prior experience, but that is NOT to shy from rudeness if called for or to soothe the ruffled feelings of intrusive men.

Taking a squint at other people's phones is extremely rude. Apparently in some worlds that's a-okay. I have no wish to be polite to people who behave like this.

Like Benji, I would've just said 'I was at exhibition today'. What you said was very rude. Only if he kept asking questions would I have said something about wanting to concentrate.

@CrabbitBastard went to uni in Scotland, degree and post grad
i have considerable understanding of Scotland and Scottish colloquialisms
so no I don’t have a red neck and I’m no embarrassed but I’m still laughing that someone with used name crabbit is pulling up anyone else on manners

Why didn't you tell him to budge up or move his legs?

Yeah you were not in the wrong. I would never dream of doing this to anyone, male
or female. It pisses me off that women are expected to be polite no matter what. Screw politeness. I’ve done it to many times. When I was 18 o was followed off the bus with my flatmate by 3 drunk middle aged men who wouldn’t leave us alone on the bus back. We were so scared and they waited outside our door after we’d gone in shouting up at us. We were petrified and they probably just thought it was funny. So no you weren’t rude. You don’t owe anyone anything!

Why would you not just be polite and explain what it was. I don't see any need to be quite so blunt tbh.

Blimey. What happens in Scotland or the North is completely irrelevant to how people are expected to interact on the London tube.

I don't think I have ever seen a guy interact with another man on the tube, unless they're all going to the football. It's always a younger woman. And it's always intrusive. I don't blame you OP.

I would react similar to how you did. He was rude so no wonder you werent too polite.

Long prior experience of London - the tube and railway stations in particular - has made me leery of strangers fast. As my work takes me there I'm usually a lone female, and lone females attract unwanted males in that place to the extent that I now don't even make eye contact with anyone. I'm also finding trains in general an increasing problem. I would like to travel, read or work and be left alone. It's not a great deal to ask.

In OP's position I would not have engaged under any pretext, and I refuse to be drawn into any conversation that makes me uncomfortable. Non-verbal communication and the wearing of earphones usually does the trick, but some are frighteningly persistent. On one occasion I politely but firmly told a particularly hard-to-get-rid-of male 'I don't want a conversation thank you'. Just those words and no more. But if you want 'rude', this guy's response covered it amply (sexist pejoratives but of course) and OP doesn't even come close.

OP, YANBU.

@Zone2NorthLondon someone who clearly has no understanding of Scottish terminology and uses it wrongly is not only demonstrating bad manners themselves but also and embarrassing themselves on a public forum.

I think you could have handled it with more neutrality. The way you phrased it does sound rude beyond assertive.

Yup funny how all these men manage to not be odd or quirky to men isn't it?

There is a difference between “not being a doormat” and being rude, aggressive and angry.

You need to learn to be assertive. Currently you’re just rude and pretending you’re being assertive.

Look the creepy git did not approach any man asking to see their phone
Creepy man did chose another man for interaction and allegedly innocuous chat
He chose a woman because he correctely predicted he’d get away with it,the faux oh what dud I say?what did I do? Using the She’s so rude to deflect from his inappropriate behaviour

WTF totally stupid comment

To be fair OP, you're quite snarky on here too.

To repeat a previous poster, it's entirely possible to be assertive without being rude. And I think that in general that's a good attribute for either sex to have. I don't think matching rudeness with rudeness is anything to celebrate.

And there's a very long distance between assertively shutting a conversation down without rudeness, and "being a doormat".

Good for you telling him where to go. He was extremely rude to start quizzing you.

I think your response was on the rude side, and I think that’s exactly what the situation called for. He was crossing obvious and well established cultural norms by looking at your phone and then asking you about it. Being on the rude side makes it clear not only that you aren’t going to play that game, but that you are calling him out on it.

If more women were rude like this to men who do this, fewer of them would do it.

user name @CrabbitBastard digging someone up on manners? How bizarre
did ye,aye?

This. And anyone who thinks this man would have behaved like this to another man is deluded.

He was rude to ask but I would have just put my phone away and/or moved.
You were rude and could have just ignored him.