To have stepped in during unfolding escalator disaster?

[PictureMeInThese]

Went to a shop with an escalator with dd and when we went to get on it we had to wait while a family of 4 hesitated to get on.
Dad stepped on, no problem-he's away.
2 dd's (about 5 and 3 at a guess) eventually step on together. Mum doesn't step on. The youngest dd turns around, starts walking down the escalator towards mum and it becomes apparent the 2 dds are attatched- they have jumpers tied around their middle that are tied together.
The first dd is carrying on up the escalator, her younger, attatched sibling constantly moving down. Mum just stands there.
I envisage the older girl tubling down many steps,so I push past and pull the jumpers apart.
The youngest tumbles a bit, but only down a step or 2,caught by the mum, still just stood at the bottom.
I grab her hand until we've got off at the top.
I couldn't believe the mum just stood there, but did I overstep the mark?

OP you were utterly reasonable...good that there are people whi will intervene if they notice something
btw did mum get on eventually?

My niece had a very close call with an escalator recently, she caught her fingers in it because the Nanny let her sit down on the escalator - she's 2 .

The outcome of this could have been very nasty, so YWNBU.

No, YANBU, you did the right thing, well done.

Jesus that clip brings back childhood memories.

That is why even today I am leery of escalators. As a child I had major wibbles using them.

The only one worse than that one was the child killing farm one.... with one empty desk in a classroom after another.

They were just a tad heavy handed with the scare/horror factor back then. I suppose it worked. All the nightmares and resultant neurosis being collateral damage I guess.

OP, I think you did the right thing. Better risk being bawled out for "interfering" than watching a predictable accident happen with awful consequences. Personally if you did that for me if I froze....I'd kiss you. And then kick myself all the way home for ever having watched 70s public service announcements (that resulted in phobia) in the first place.

If I showed that welly clip to my two we would never go on an escalator again, and they are 14 and 11.

Those public service announcements were terrifying. Lots of train ones IIRC.

I won't go down on an escalator. I'm petrified. I'm ok going up but going down is impossible.
If it was my dd I would have kissed you!

Yanbu i had similar when ds4 fell on an escalator but i was holding onto dd and ds3 and couldnt do anything it was awful as he was falling down and the escalator kept going up so he just kept falling iyswim. a lady helped him, i dumped the others at top with random stranger then ran down to ds4. I thanked the lady and the staff (in next) who were lovely and helped me clean him up as he was scrapped/grazed etc. It was all recorded in accident book etc.

First thing that springs to mind is that the mother had an escalator phobia, which is quite common.

I have never forgotten an incident I saw a few years ago. A woman in John Lewis came down the escalator with two kids behind her. When she reached the bottom, she walked away without looking back. One of her kids had his shoelace caught up in the escalator and he shouted 'muuuum!' but she was too far away to hear. A random man leaned over and swiftly pulled the shoelace out. By this time the woman had noticed her kids absence, looked over, saw the guy pull the shoelace, and gave him a filthy look.

She marched off with her kids.

Of course you did the right thing OP. Why would you think otherwise?

I can't believe all the 'what was the woman thinking of?' outrage. Or rather, I can .

Has no-one here ever done anything silly that seemed like a good idea at the time?

I totally avoid escalators with my children. I'd rather walk up a mountain. The woman was probably afraid to get on. My nephew acts like that at esclators..he's 25!

Are escalator phobias common? I'm really pleased!

I've never admitted to anyone that sometimes I stand at the top and feel like I'm not going to time it right when the step comes along. I've put one foot out a few times then changed my mind and walked down the ordinary stairs :D

Does anyone remember the thread where someone was on a travelator with a trolley in a Supermarket. They nearly reached the top then for some reason couldn't get off because of somebody at the top? So everyone had to walk on the spot?

I use the escalators all the time but I will avoid it if I have got the buggy with me. I absolutely refuse to use it with a buggy, I know people do if they use the tube ad they dont have much of a choice. I dont have the strength or confidence to keep the buggy up right.

Yanbu. The family sound like they needed help.

escalator phobia fine. But why did the dad get on first and not consider the children the family had with them?

You did the right thing OP.

I'm more of the camp what was the father thinking, he should have had one DD & the mother one and how bizzare to tie two children together!

I can't think if any country that doesn't have escalators either!

We had an escalator incident last year, I can't remember which tube station it was, but we were taking ds's pushchair up those really really long escalators which frighten the crap out of me even if I'm alone. Dd was 4 and standing infront of the pushchair and looked down and got scared, fell backwards over the pushchair almost breaking her neck and DH managed to catch her with one hand and I pulled her off him. If she'd fallen down, it was a good long fall all the way down as there was nobody directly behind us.

yanbu for stepping in and preventing an accident.

but yabu for posting your heroic act in AIBU, if you ask me (which you're not so I'll shut up now)

There was a thread about this very thing recently using some very choice names for people who do this!