Or is the bloke I spilt my latte on

[Rowanhart]

Getting on train today, when someone bumps me on their way past. I dropped my costa coffee (latte, 10 mins old) on table and some split on man's paper, sleeve of jumper and one splash on trousers

Me: oh god I'm very sorry'
Man: 'for Godsake'
Me: so sorry, are your hurt'
Man: 'No I'm messy'

Train bloke with trolley comes over with napkins.

Me: 'so sorry (takes napkins, starts cleaning up.'
Man: 'Can do it myself, stupid cow'
Me: 'okay, well I am sorry'

10 minutes later trolley man comes over and asks for mobile number, name and address as man has put incident in accident book. I ask if details will be passed to man and he says not sure so I refuse.

Then coffee man comes over and demands details. I still refuse. Pretend to get off at next stop and get back on 2 carriages down.

Trolley man comes down, spots me and again asks for details. I refuse and he says transport police may be called. They are not and I get off at destination.

Should I have given my details?

yanbu - I'd immediately suspect a dodgy chancer if someone asked for my details in those circumstances. jeans don't even need dry cleaning and a small splash of coffee isn't going to ruin a jumper unless it's a £500 designer dry clean only silk number...

If someone bumped into the OP, it wasn't even her fault. What a load of fuss about nothing!

Incidentally, I had the pleasure of being on a Leeds-London train last year and some twat had put a half empty takeaway cup of coffee on the overhead luggage rack, meaning that the four of us (all strangers) at our table got covered in cold coffee rain as it dripped through. We just mopped it up, did our best and carried on. No one thought to complain to the guard, or try and sue Costa as it was a Costa cup etc.

It WAS the OP's fault as she is the one who took the risk of bringing a liquid in an open cup onto a train. Getting bumped and jostled is par for the course on trains, not some unpredictable, bolt-from-the-blue accident. It and the potential adverse consequences should be taken into consideration when discretionary behavior - such as walking around with a coffee cup - is undertaken.

I think that wins Most Pompous Post of the Day, Taxpayer.

Unnecessarily unpleasant man. Nosey officious train official. And no way would I accept my name and address being given to a stranger, especially one who has been rude and aggressive in the face a minor accident and some splashed jeans and a jumper..

Taxpayer - OP says: "There was a lid on coffee."

No, Taxpayer is perfectly correct. And as we all know, putting a lid on a cup of coffee is no guarantee that it won't get spilt.

Well, Taxpayer said: "It WAS the OP's fault as she is the one who took the risk of bringing a liquid in an open cup onto a train." so that's not PERFECTLY correct but it wasn't an open cup.

because not but.

How does the OP know he wasn't burned?

Surely it would not be going in the accident book, if he were not burned?

Kitkat I asked if he was hurt and he said no, he was messy.

Honestly, why does there have to be blame attributed to every accident.

A few drops of coffee on a pair of jeans and jumper is not a disaster - I'm sure if he had split it himself it wouldn't have been such an issue.

There's no excuse for being rude to someone who has been genuinely apologetic about an ACCIDENT - at least that's what I teach my 3 year old!

He called you a stupid cow and the rest didn't end up over his head????? I applaud you on your restraint OP

Actually the OP herself said the cup had an opening and that's how the coffee got on the other passenger. I didn't dream that up.

If it's not 100 percent secured with a sealed lid, it's an open cup in my book.

Most consider taking luke-warm coffee on a train to be reasonable behaviour and a reasonable risk, people do it day in, day out. It's not reasonable to deprive tired commuters of coffee for the minor risk that you may spill a bit on somebody if banged. Resilience?

No he would have lost me at "stupid cow". He could go whistle for any kind of apology or compensation after that.

I can't imagine any circumstances in which my DH would call a woman on a train a "stupid cow".

TheVillage all takeaway coffee cup lids have a small hole in them for the steam to escape, it is not a huge great opening, and the amount of coffee that could reasonably escape from that hole if the incident happened as the OP describes is not very much at all, a few splashes at the most.

Augusta even if your foot slipped on the accelerator instead of the brake it would still be classed as an accident, you know an RTA - Road Traffic ACCIDENT, as you did not deliberately slam your foot down in order to hit the person/car in front. Yes, you would be liable for damage caused but that does not take away that the action was accidental not deliberate.

VillageTaxpayer, your posts take the trophy for "biggest load of utter bollocks".

It is perfectly reasonable to take takeaway coffee onto a train. That is why it is sold as "takeaway", the clue us there.

All takeaway coffees I had ever had have had lids with openings in. The openings are smallish and let out steam. It is also possible to drink through the openings.

Talk sense ffs.

The man was exceptionally rude - silly cow indeed
YANBU

I see people will conjure up anything to avoid taking personal responsibility. Bottom line is the OP made the choice to take coffee onto a crowded train and not hold it securely enough to withstand ordinary jostling, her coffee sullied someone else's belongings and he was rightfully angry. I don't see why she should get a pass here. And I doubt many of you would be "oh, no problem! don't give it another thought!" if the same thing happened to you. Whether he was wearing jeans or a suit is irrelevant.

No, actually, bottom line is he said 'For God's sake' and then called her a stupid cow while she was apologising and trying to clear up.

It's not irrelevant what he was wearing. The swearing and attitude, while never OK, would be slightly more understandable if he was in top-to-toe Paul Smith or something. But on a pair of jeans and a jumper, the coffee stain would be no more than a temporary inconvenience.

Well, I have had drink spilled on me (and the book I was reading) on the bus and I actually did say 'don't worry about it'.

Because it was an accident, they apologised and I wasn't hurt.

Sorry to burst your bubble there, Village but we're not all like the bloke on the train.

This thread is brilliant:-

Drinking hot drinks? On a train? Are you mad?

Coffee-AN ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN!

£450 on a suit? Go to Primark!

[In the voice of Mr. Cholmondely-Warner] Please hold your beverage securely enough to withstand ordinary jostling. Thenk yew.'