Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

should I pay the train fares for DCs?

38 replies

NigellasDealer · 26/12/2013 17:37

to give a bit of background I should have some CSA money coming in after it was stopped by ex for three months, but do not have internet banking so cannot find out if the money is there without driving into town and my car is fucked. We live in deep deep country btw.
right so ex has decided he would like the children to visit him and I should pay the fares and 'he will pay me back' (like fun he will).
the fares would be just over £50.
previously he stopped paying for over 7 years and has no regular contact of any kind.
additionally when we had SS intervention he claimed to them that I had 'always prevented him from seeing the children' - this was an outright lie as there were many many times when I took them to London on the train to meet him at my expense and on several occasions he cancelled at the last minute or just didnt show up and switched his phone off. After that there were quite a few years when he made no attempt at contact.
he has just been on the phone to them, refused to talk to me about it, and left the son as go-between between us.
I am now really hand to mouth and do not see why his CSA money should go towards facilitating contact
oh crumbs now he is on the phone again and wants to discuss it with me....
brb.

OP posts:
RedLondonBus · 26/12/2013 17:39

You can ring your bank.... Automated service gives last few transactions

How old are the dc?

GodRestTEEMerryGenTEEmen · 26/12/2013 17:39

No. You shouldn't.

I know your want your DCs to have contact, and that's lovely and generous of you. But if you don't have the money, you don't have the money.

Food and clothing and a roof over their heads needs to be your (and his) priority.

If he wants to see them, he can buy the tickets and send them.

LineRunner · 26/12/2013 17:40

OP, I see you on other threads being so assertive .... so why this? No, don't bale him out.

ENormaSnob · 26/12/2013 17:41

No i wouldnt

ZillionChocolate · 26/12/2013 17:41

Is it possible for him to buy the tickets and you to collect them? Possibly not, may require his card to collect.

moldingsunbeams · 26/12/2013 17:46

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

moldingsunbeams · 26/12/2013 17:48

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
NigellasDealer · 26/12/2013 17:50

oh great .
they are 15.
he has just refused to talk to me any further about it, told me to 'fuck off' and hung up on me.
he suggested that I book the tickets and he 'pay me back half of it', to which i said no.
bloody bloody twat.

OP posts:
Mellowandfruitful · 26/12/2013 17:50

No, you should not pay for this. He is trying to take you for a mug. He can come and get them himself if he is bothered.

IneedAsockamnesty · 26/12/2013 17:51

Tell him to go fuck himself

Birdsgottafly · 26/12/2013 17:53

He can set up a Paypal account and send money instantly via that. He can put money straight into your bank account.

If he doesn't, then he doesn't want contact, he wants to play power games.

You haven't got the cash spare, why you are even considering it, I don't know, tbh.

If the commitment isn't there, you are doing your children no good In the long run.

CSIJanner · 26/12/2013 17:54

YANBU

He can pay for tickets and yourself plus the children can goto the train station to pick up using the reference number and some photo ID (passport) as he should be booking the tickets under your name.

Bet he doesn't like the solution though....

Mellowandfruitful · 26/12/2013 17:55

Miserable fucker!

Birdsgottafly · 26/12/2013 17:55

X Post, you don't have to speak to him, now he has become abusive.

It is a simple thing for him to arrange.

Wibblypiglikesbananas · 26/12/2013 17:55

Sounds like your kids are better off without him to be honest.

SantasPelvicFloor · 26/12/2013 17:56

No. Don't pay. It will set up a pattern. If he really wanted to see them he would do more to make it happen

Original poster
NigellasDealer · 26/12/2013 18:08

thank you my lovelies you helped me be more assertive!
guess what he is coming to collect them (in his Jag.)....but i am not holding my breath.
hope he has satnav cos he will never find this place without it!

OP posts:
moldingsunbeams · 26/12/2013 18:19

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
NigellasDealer · 26/12/2013 18:21

yes I have said this to them, that they are old enough to arrange things with him directly now.

OP posts:
Original poster
NigellasDealer · 27/12/2013 11:22

what a dull boy he is - well he slept on it and must have realised that petrol for the jag vs. sending me the money to book the tickets was a no brainer
and soooo...he sent me the money direct to my paypal account (using his wife's card obvs)
tickets booked end of story.
thank the good lord for easy divorce is all i can say.

OP posts:
Mellowandfruitful · 28/12/2013 21:59

Well done OP - that's the value of assertiveness! Perhaps his current wife'll turn up here one day...

Original poster
NigellasDealer · 31/12/2013 03:18

well i hope nobody minds me using this thread for an update, save me starting a new thread?

so off they went and he spent the time slating me to them, taking their clothes out of their bags and sniffing at them and then getting his wife to wash them again. Also saying that if i did not buy them good clothes then his 600 a month was wasted (it is not that much it is about 450 at the moment, and is not reliable)

(my son was wearing a rather good Jasper Conran pea coat and my daughter a nice EWM jacket btw)

he said my son had been wearing the same socks for a week and that his shoes were 'more or less falling apart' (grr not true)

He spent a lot of time slagging me off in Polish to his mum and his wife which the children can understand the gist of....

then he phones me this morning right and says that as my son smokes he doesn't want him around! then I have the son on the phone begging to come back, in the end i agreed as i was worried that he would leave anyway! so the ex told them that I 'sounded mental' and put the son on the train with £3, knowing that I could not pick him up and that it would be too late for our little country bus. oh and did not tell me what train he was on! I mean ok smoking is bad but hitching alone at night along a dark B road is probably worse for your health right? well he is a resourceful boy and got back fine but still....

he also laughed about my daughter studying engineering and asked why she didnt do animal care or something instead.....

i am so ......angry. his priorities are so warped - he has done the minimum of parenting over the years as outlined in previous post, yet is now giving it large as superdad!

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Angry
any advice? or just go along with what the children say/want?

OP posts:
Danann · 31/12/2013 03:27

I would go with exactly what your children decide, they are old enough to know what they want. Hope poor DS is ok, obviously he shouldnt be smoking but he doesn't deserve to be treated like that! when is DD home?

DoYouLikeMyBaubles · 31/12/2013 03:29

What an absolute twunt. I have nothing else of value to add unless you'd like to slag him off with me?

Agree with LineRunner too. If you're half as assertive in real life as you are on here you'll figure it out and not let him take the piss like he is doing. Personally after the train part I'd stop contact if he isn't getting them home safely!

Genuinely angry on your behalf here.

Original poster
NigellasDealer · 31/12/2013 03:30

he is going to drive her back on new years day in the Jag. only idiots drive jags.
i know smoking is bad but it doesn't mean you stop being their parent does it?
both me and the ex were smoking from a young age and so was my dad, doesn't mean you get disowned!

OP posts:
Swipe left for the next trending thread