Child being verbally abused on train

[fartfacenotfatface]

How would you approach this? My child is repeatedly being verbally abused / bullied on the train home from school by the same child (who attends a different school to my child). The bully torments my DC with unkind words, pretend ‘air’ punches them, follows them to the loo and jumps out at them etc and basically won’t leave them alone for the entire 30 min journey. They’re 14.

We know the name of the child involved. Should we approach the school (would they even be interested as this is taking place off their premises although the bully is in school uniform)? Or the railway company perhaps?

it’s got to the point where my child is too scared to take this train now.

Why wouldn’t you tell the school?

And if it is that bad the school can ensure the bully isn’t allowed on that train anymore and they would have to find another way to get to school.

Definitely tell the school, and can your child get an earlier or later train (shouldn’t have to, but might be for the best?). Or sneak onto a different carriage without bully seeing?
I used to commute on a train absolutely stuffed with horrible school children. Was awful! (No idea why I didn’t get a different train myself!)

Interestingly the child in question is clearly skiving school or has been suspended or something to be on this train. My child lives in town A but goes to school in town B. The bully lives in and is wearing the uniform of the school in town A but is already on the train when it gets to town B (from the direction of town C), so she’s been elsewhere for the day (on a daily basis). She wouldn’t have had time to already be on the train in town B after school if she’d attended.

How frequent are the trains? Could your child get a later one for now while you contact the schools?

Contact British transport police? They must have cameras.

Trains only run once an hour, so not really feasible to catch different one.

I did wonder but wasn’t sure how interested they’d be given that she’s not been physically attacked.

Definitely report to the school - yours and theirs.
And the train company. They might be able to put staff in the right carriage if they know the train involved. Is there a conductor onboard??

I would definitely tell this child's school and keep on at them until it's sorted out. Also I would consider complaining to the train company but they would need to be able to identify the child and their behaviour.