putting free papers on train carriage floor

[Angelik]

so I'm on my way home on the train and having finished reading the free paper absent mindedly put it on seat next to me. this is out of character for me. I usually put on lap or wedge between me and wall (depending where i am sitting) and put it on luggage rack for others to read or in the bin as I disembark. however, today I didn't. another passenger sat next to me and dropped paper on floor. I find this odd. I see this as littering. she could have asked if it was mine as a way of politely asking for it to be moved (or am I too passive aggressive?).

anyway, long story short I picked it up and put it on rack. she got shirty and firm words were exchanged. I wasn't impressed with her style of debate which was to tell me to shut up and that I wasn't filled with bags of intelligence but that is the long version

DoJo newspapers do not belong on seats. They are dirty. I take my own rubbish with me. It's not my job to clear up after other people.

I don't want to sit next to half-finished drinks in case the train lurches and they spill on me. Neither do I want to sit clutching them for my journey and then throw them in the bin for the lazy person who left them behind.

Fair enough - I would just have thought that it was more inconvenient to you and other train users to have newspapers and potentially spillable drinks on the floor where they could combine into a sticky paper mache effect than to stick them in the bins, but I am thinking of trains where there are bins between most of the seats which are easy to access without too much effort.

Metro Newspapers do not want their free newspapers to be 'recycled'. They want everyone to take their copy home not chuck it on the floor , so increasing the circulation. The more they 'sell' the greater their circulation figures, so the more they can charge their advertisers.

I leave my used Metro behind the little fold up table on the back of the seat in front, and love finding one there if I don't have one of my own. I think of it as recycling - anything that is the floor or which can't be used again (eg food wrappers) is rubbish and should be in the bin.

DoJo sorry to sound snippy. The amount of crap people leave behind just annoys me.

It's not ideal to put things on the floor but there aren't bins on tubes. They removed them from platforms too, but I think they're back now. I wouldn't know. I'm the sort of person whose pockets are filled with used tissues and old till receipts.

I do it tidily and don't chuck things on the floor, but yes, people do kick things around.

Limited - I didn't think you sounded snippy FWIW, I was just thinking of trains rather than tubes so probably talking at cross purposes! Of all the things people leave on public transport, I think papers annoy me least, mostly because I quite often have a glance at them, whereas there is no excuse for leaving half empty drinks and food wrappers which serve no purpose other than to make the whole travelling experience more unpleasant for others. I too am a veteran hoarder of rubbish in my pockets, so cannot understand the mindset of those who just leave things in places where they can not help but inconvenience others as though their convenience trumps all!

DoJo I've just gone through my pockets. Apart from a Superdrug till receipt for 97 pence for own brand Green Apple and Tea Tree shampoo (highly recommended) and crumbling bits of used tissue there was a pound coin. Joy.

I brought home a free Evening Standard last night. I didn't read it but had to manoeuvre it under my cat who was hoiking up a hairball today.

That's one of the reasons why I don't leave free newspapers on the train.

They come in handy for wrapping up cat puke and tidying up the cat shit pit or cat litter tray .