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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to have sent my 14 year old off alone on a cross country train journey....

126 replies

BurberryFucker · 29/10/2013 17:05

from Wales with changes at Birmingham New St and London (Euston to Liverpool st) to the other side of Colchester?
am going out of my mind with the arguments between him and his twin sister so have sent him off to stay with my dad for a few days to save my sanity and give them both a break.
now am freaking out as he doesn't have a mobile with him......
ETA at Colchester approx 6.20....
AIBU?
ps he is quite streetwise.

OP posts:
flatiron · 29/10/2013 18:15

Some of the posts on here have made me laugh more than I have in ages - cantspel in particular, thank you! Grin I'm sure your ds will be fine OP. I don't think you'd have let him go if you had had any real doubts. Smile

Original poster
BurberryFucker · 29/10/2013 18:15

the secret is to live up a mountain with no reception and get them a PAYG phone that you can never afford to top up......
top tip of the week!

OP posts:
cantspel · 29/10/2013 18:15

lol at the kendal mint cake as we all know teen boys are incapable of going an hour without food.

JohnnyBarthes · 29/10/2013 18:21

He'll be fine, but yes a phone would have been good.

It's all very well saying 'I travelled from Mull to St Ives when I was 7' but in those days there were actual pay phones all over the place, and we knew how to use them. And I don't think the trains were quite so shit.

CaptainSweatPants · 29/10/2013 18:23

Ha at mint cake & foil blanket Grin

Did you give him lots of food
A flask of soup Grin

Reminds me of the Brownie mantra - always gave a piece of string , why???, & a 10 pence piece

Original poster
BurberryFucker · 29/10/2013 18:25

Barthes he does know how to use a phone box I showed him how to when he was about six along with a whole host of other things.....
(panicking now a bit tho, Dad is usually on Skype.....)

OP posts:
whois · 29/10/2013 18:26

Oh my god this thread is hilarious.

Would be nice if he had a phone with him for your peace of mind, but seriously. Posters worried about a half a mile walk, at 6.30 in the evening (yes I know it's dark, but there are street lights and the boy knows his way, and teenagers don't bloody melt in the dark) and having to change trains. There are plenty of staff around on trains and stations to ask for help if needed.

OP you were not U. Hopefully he will have enjoyed the journey and time at your dads.

thebody · 29/10/2013 18:28

yes but how does a 14 year old NOT have a phone!!!

please tell me your secret!! never heard of this power.

flatiron · 29/10/2013 18:28

Maybe your dad went to meet him? Or he's waiting for your ds to arrive first. The train will barely be in yet.

Original poster
BurberryFucker · 29/10/2013 18:30

see above to my post of 18.15 thebody...Grin

OP posts:
Allice · 29/10/2013 18:31

My husband is on the Liverpool St - Colchester line, they said their would be delays but he's just text and said all OK at the moment, no inter cities running though.

I have younger kids who fight constantly, I'd do the same!

APartridgeAmongThePigeons · 29/10/2013 18:31

You are a bit unreasonable to send him with no mobile as it is much more difficult to find a phonebox nowadays especially working one. Are you sure the village he gets off in has one?

Also I think having a specific train and his dad meeting him at the station would be better than him walking home as will everyone realise if he doesn't get home on time exactly?

APartridgeAmongThePigeons · 29/10/2013 18:33

*your dad sorry

JemimaMuddledUp · 29/10/2013 18:34

I'm liking your idea with the phone OP. We live in rural Wales too and signal is patchy. My friend, whose daughter was nagging for a phone but she thought was too young for one, gave her a phone on the condition that she wasn't allowed to take it out with her. As there is no signal in their village she is limited to playing games on it Grin

I'm sure your DS has got off the train safe and sound by now and will be on his way to your dad's house. But it is very natural to worry, you'd be odd if you didn't.

thebody · 29/10/2013 18:34

Burberry that is so unfair!!!!! just location then and I thought you had some sort of special gift!!!

he will he fine... Grin

jchocchip · 29/10/2013 18:35

Well done you :)

cory · 29/10/2013 18:38

ds has just come in; he has been out roaming the streets/visiting friends/doing whatever teenagers do since lunchtime; it has been dark here for well over an hour; and he doesn't have a mobile phone; and no I probably wouldn't have noticed straightaway (read: for several hours) if he wasn't where he was supposed to be

so in the event of anything going wrong...he would have had to... read my lips carefully now: USE HIS INITIATIVE

Theas18 · 29/10/2013 18:38

Hell be fine. I'd have trusted any of mine at 14 to do this. They are very public transport able though.

EeyoreIsh · 29/10/2013 18:40

perfectly reasonable to have sent him off like this. Indeed, it'll give him confidence that he can make big trips by himself etc. I went abroad by myself from a young age and it has made me a far more confident traveller.

cory · 29/10/2013 18:42

I am not quite sure why it is so vital for the OPs ds to have this mobile.

he is on a train, if the train is delayed his dad will notice and can easily confirm this by ringing the railway line

he is not likely to get lost because the way to his dad's house is well lit and he knows the way

if he is mugged, he probably wouldn't be able to use the phone anyway

I suppose in case he broke a leg on the way between the station and his dad's house...

Original poster
BurberryFucker · 29/10/2013 18:45

MY dad not HIS dad....
(God I sound like Shaun from Shaun of the Dead)
agree about the mobile thing cory....

OP posts:
teenagetantrums · 29/10/2013 18:47

I used to send mine at 11 alone on intercity trains but with no changes and my parents met them at the other end, we live in london and they have been going the tube alone since they were at high school. Im sure at 14 he will be fine, does he know how to use a phone box? Having a mobile phone does not magically make travelling safe so i wouldn't worry if he doesn't have one

Original poster
BurberryFucker · 29/10/2013 18:51

yes he knows how to use a phone box and has been using public transport for ever inc the tube at a v young age .....

OP posts:
LynetteScavo · 29/10/2013 18:52

Good point, Cory. He's more likely to be mugged because he's seen using a decent mb phone....Is he there yet?

JohnnyBarthes · 29/10/2013 18:52

And mobile phones are no substitute for common sense. When ds, then 12, came off his bike (a nasty fall but no permanent damage) did either he or his friend think to call? Nope. Friend left ds with a nice lady (which was good, I know) and cycled a mile up hill to come and get me Grin

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