AIBU to be angry my sister left my 16-year-old alone?

There is absolutely nothing wrong with an informal chat over coffee - it wasn’t an interview, this is a perfectly normal thing to do in business. I’d happily have a coffee with a friends 16 year old to talk to them about my work (banking). I’d not go to all the hassle of registering them with Reception, booking a meeting room, organising a visitors pass etc to give them a few hints and tips. And no, Zoom is no substitute for a face to face meeting.

So OP hasn’t been back because the thread didn’t go down the way she expected?

your 16yo doesn't know how maps work?

She’s 16 not 6, if she hadn’t got the common sense to find out how to get to a station then she’s got issues!

YABVU. Both your sister and this couple went out of their way to do your daughter a favour to help her in her career choices. You and your DD owe them both a big thank you.

Blimey, I grew up in the middle of nowhere with not much parental supervision and I managed to get myself down to London for work experience and Uni visits at this age, pre-internet....

Maybe think about resilience skills for the DD.

Of course this is a chat that your sister shouldn’t have been sitting in for, it changes the dynamic. She could have waited elsewhere but it also wasn’t necessary

She’s 16, not 6!

She should be more than capable of finding her way around a city in the middle of the day herself.

Equally, she should be more than capable of speaking to strangers in a public cafe/station. Not that they were strangers, they were introduced by your sister!

My teenagers are all over the city during the holidays. I don’t keep track of them, they are on their own, or with friends, or may even strike up a conversation with a complete stranger in a cafe or station for all I know.

I’d expect a 16 year old to be able to walk a short way back way she had come (if need be using google maps) and get back on train she had come in on.
It sounds like a misunderstanding.
I think what your sister did was fine she met her at station and walked to meeting and made intro.
The couple sound kind giving up time to speak to random teen and then checking she was ok back to station and going with her when she was unsure.

I wouldn't be "beyond angry" but would definiyely make my conclusions about teaching my daughter basic life skills like finding train station on google maps and figuring out which train to take.

With kindness, I think my 12 year old daughter would be able to work out how to get back to a trail station as long as she had a smart phone with her.

Perhaps spend some time supporting her to be more independent and do some test runs with public transport/big cities or she will really struggle when she goes to uni (which presumably she will of she wants to go into immigration law/similar)

The OP knew her daughter was meeting a couple related to a friend of her aunt’s. These weren’t complete randoms.

What’s wrong with a coffee shop? In London? Do you think it’s unsafe? If so, why?

What offices do you think will allow a 16yo, unrelated to their business to just wonder in for an informal meeting? Have you ever worked in offices before?

I have to say I’m more astounded by the reference to professional people in their mid to late twenties as ‘young adults’…!

Sounds like your DD got an awful lot out of the day. At 16 she should be able to negotiate a train journey on her own. My DS went on trains solo when he was 13. That said, I would have clarified arrangements with my sister beforehand and made sue that DD knew how to get the train and some had some basic knowledge of how to get home. Sounds like the couple were very kind to help her though.

No good deed goes unpunished.

Irrelevant but as someone who has tried to get their teenager ANY kind of law experience or introductions, I feel that connections of this quality should be hugely appreciated. Law is very hard to get any internship or professional advice unless your parents are lawyers already.

And YY to the PP who said any 16 year old who wants to work in migration law should get a bit savvy and streetwise.

Good Lord.
At 16 I was walking well over a mile to the station, getting a train into London, getting across London and getting another train out the other side. This was before Google Maps and mobile phones.

You really need to encourage her to be independent and to learn to problem-solve. In two years she could be at uni at the other end of the country.

Also, if she's interested in working with refugees she'll meet people her age who have been 'adulting' for many years. She can't be this green!

I was traveling to London for work at 16 & yes all on my own. I know things are different now but it's a good learning experience for your daughter

I’d have assumed she was more than capable of finding her way to a train. She’s 16, not 6. Time to stop babying her.

My (just turned) 16 yo has been flying on his own twice a month for over a year (to and from London).

You do know she's old enough to:

Have sex
Work
Have her own bank account
Be a company director

She really ought to be able to meet a couple of professional contacts on her own.

At 16 we went on a school trip to London... dropped off at a certain point and told to be back for 5pm!

She's old enough to join the army, get married, drive a moped, have a full time job.... Jesus helicopter parents

My DDs went to school for a term in South Africa for an exchange with another school. Only 2 girls went each time. We waved them off at Heathrow and gave them a hug 3 months later! They were 13. I find it incredible a 16 year old cannot navigate London in order to get back to the station! Frankly, it’s pathetic and the op really needs to teach her DD life skills. Mine could navigate London by then too. We don’t live there. Why are dc babied like this?

Surely it was just a matter of going back the way she had come just an hour or two before?

It’s completely appropriate and normal and exactly how a casual introduction should be conducted