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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Leaving someone stranded at 1am at night

449 replies

dranaksjd · 30/08/2016 15:32

Honest opinions wanted here.

Here's the scenario. My friend (she's 26) foudn herself having to return home much later than she expected. This meant she had to get the last train home from Birmingham city centre.

There was a mix up on the departure board which meant she got on the wrong train and ended up in a tiny train station in a village quite far from any major city.

She was clearly distressed as she got off the train and a couple overheard her conversation to her friend. She explain she had only £10
On her, no bank card on her and no idea where she was and no charge on her phone to call anyone to see if they could pick her up.

The couple said they would take her to the main train station in the nearest city which was 10 minutes drive away.

So she got in the car. They dropped her off at that train station at 1am.

She then found a pub willing to let her charge her phone and then when the pub closed she returned to the train station at 2 am. It was at 4am before she realised she could do an emergency transaction using her natwest online banking app.
She comes across as someone who would be comfortably well off so I'm guessing the couple thought she had money but she had explained she did not have her card on her.

She then paid a lot of money for a taxi home.

Now obviously it was nice of the couple to give her a lift the the main train station, but it didn't actually help her much. And they left her at 1am with no cash on her, outside a train station which was boarded up and closed.

That doesn't sit well with me and isn't something I would do. Or am I being unreasonable? Obviously it was unwise of her to travel back at that time but she was not expecting that morning when she left the house to be travelling at that time.

Honest opinions wanted here. And I'm genuinely not the person this post is about.

Just genuinely interested in what others opinion is.

OP posts:
Doggity · 30/08/2016 17:54

You need new friends.

dowhatnow · 30/08/2016 17:55

Reading a bus timetable once in Europe years ago I knew I had to change buses at a certain place. I got off. It was 1am in the morning and seemed such a small village I was doubting myself, thinking that I'd got off at the wrong place. A group of lads were hanging around a small square. I felt very vulnerable. The timetable there didn't seem very clear. I was waiting and wondering how the hell I was going to get home. It was pre-smart phones so I couldn't google a taxi number. It was too late to knock on any village doors to get a taxi number. I was panicking at the thought of waiting all night with the local hoodlums there. I even contemplated calling the police. Fortunately the right bus turned up after about an hour but for that hour it was very scary.

It happens. But in this situation I'd have just got in a taxi, gone home to get my card then found a cashpoint to pay. Was she very drunk not to have just done this?

JudyCoolibar · 30/08/2016 17:55

Actually, I suspect she told the couple that she would phone her friends from a pub or café and on that footing the couple were more than ever justified. OP, were you one of the people she called from the pub?

DeathpunchDoris · 30/08/2016 17:57

She survived and no harm was done. She was very lucky to have been helped by kind people - it could have been much worse. She is an adult and therefore responsible for herself - I don't think it is up to complete strangers to do more than they are willing to do. She should have planned for emergencies and ensured she could get herself home safely.

SockQueen · 30/08/2016 17:57

Neither Telford nor Wolverhampton are small villages in the middle of nowhere though. Not saying I'd want to spend a night in either train station, but remote and rural they are not!

WorraLiberty · 30/08/2016 17:57

sooty! Grin

LurkingHusband · 30/08/2016 17:58

Very obscure reference ...

"Right team ..."
"They've gone, Percy"

TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross · 30/08/2016 17:58

Having had a little read, the OP definitely DOES need new friends. To have one friend to complain about is misfortune, to have so many looks like carelessnesss...

DesolateWaist · 30/08/2016 17:58

Actually can't believe this is the same person as "only a fiver to feed my nephew" person.

We only know that its the OP's friend. It could be two different friends.

I can quite see how the situation would arise. I've been stuck in stations at stupid o'clock before now. However I have had the good sense to not leave the house without a card.

SestraClone · 30/08/2016 17:59

A looked-after child should not really be placed with this woman, she has no money and no life skills!

SestraClone · 30/08/2016 18:01

Desolate, unless she had 2 unfortunate friends who were stranded on the same night and both had to spend £££ on a taxi home, then they are the same person.

ilovesooty · 30/08/2016 18:01

Or Worra someone could adopt PoorPissedPerfectPovertyPudding as a username.

DesolateWaist · 30/08/2016 18:02

Ah, has she said that they are the same friend? I missed that bit.

riceuten · 30/08/2016 18:03

No, they did the right thing. I doubt very much she explained the whole situation to her, or if they did, they were dubious. How far would people go to help a complete stranger out ?

MidnightVelvettheSixth · 30/08/2016 18:03

Anyone else imagining the witnit friend a la Streetcar Named Desire simpering at people & telling them she always depends on the kindness of strangers Grin

TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross · 30/08/2016 18:04

No, but we learned on the other thread that the reason the other friend doesn't have enough money to feed the nephew is that she had an unexpected taxi bill after being stranded at a station...

Sunshineonacloudyday · 30/08/2016 18:07

Your friend did not communicate to the couple properly. Could she have walked home why go into a strangers car and not give proper directions for where she needs to go.

RebelRogue · 30/08/2016 18:08

She was stupid-learn to be a fucking grownup
They were nice-learn to not give late night lifts,you'll either get scammed or moaned about because you didn't drive quite far enough

Fucking people!

LikeDylanInTheMovies · 30/08/2016 18:08

Poor, Pissed, Perfect, Poverty and Pudding

I wonder if the op* is writing some sub Louise Bagshawe chicklit effort in which five single gals seek romance with hilarious results.

Sunshineonacloudyday · 30/08/2016 18:10

Is this thread true.

SestraClone · 30/08/2016 18:12

Nope

Lorelei76 · 30/08/2016 18:12

OnlyLivingBoy, that was in my head when another poster mentioned losing her husband!

Queen, we need more info

These people do exist though, incompetent types who then enjoy the drama.

JudyCoolibar · 30/08/2016 18:14

Your friend did not communicate to the couple properly. Could she have walked home why go into a strangers car and not give proper directions for where she needs to go.

Presumably she couldn't walk if it was a £100 taxi fare. And something tells me the strangers could't have been prepared to drive to somewhere an hour away at 1 a.m.

JudyCoolibar · 30/08/2016 18:19

I think I may have discovered the source of OP's problems. On another thread she said:

I love meeting new people and the more the merrier. I have a large number of friends and feel energised in the company of people.

Maybe a certain lack of discrimination in the choice of friends there, OP?

DesolateWaist · 30/08/2016 18:19

No, but we learned on the other thread that the reason the other friend doesn't have enough money to feed the nephew is that she had an unexpected taxi bill after being stranded at a station...

Ahh, the friend who is claiming IS but thinks nothing of spending £15 on a meal out?