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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:
roasted · 30/08/2016 22:07

Goodness, this "friend" sure does know how to make a bad situation worse.

Out all day? Take a portable phone battery with you.

Wrong train? Speak to the guard.

Dropped off at station? Sleep at station, sheltered plus CCTV.

Near open shops/bars? Walk to shops/bars, ask for help.

Taxi expensive? Pay for taxi. If you feel unsafe, it's worth the cost.

Etc...

Munstermonchgirl · 30/08/2016 22:10

She didn't get off the train at Barking by any chance?

DesolateWaist · 30/08/2016 22:17

Not wishing to defend the pudding too much but.

out all day? Take a portable phone battery with you.
Might not have one, I don't.

Wrong train? Speak to the guard.
Very often isn't a guard, especially on late night local services.

Dropped off at station? Sleep at station, sheltered plus CCTV.
Tiny country stations are very often little more than bus shelters.

Near open shops/bars? Walk to shops/bars, ask for help.
Not many open shops or bars in small towns in the middle of nowhere at 1am.

Taxi expensive? Pay for taxi. If you feel unsafe, it's worth the cost.
Not if you don't have any money. You can't use money you don't have.

LurkingHusband · 30/08/2016 22:18

ABloodyDifficultWoman

Blackadder II: "Head"

lurkingfromhome · 30/08/2016 22:22

If nothing else, I think we've all learned that "pudding" is a most excellent term of scorn and will be my go-to insult as of tomorrow Grin

charliedontsurf · 30/08/2016 22:26

Pudding pal Grin

Funniest thing I've read on here for ages. Thanks OP.

Munstermonchgirl · 30/08/2016 22:38

Poverty Pudding.

Fruit n nuts in the recipe methinks

EttaJ · 30/08/2016 22:59

More holes in the plot than a sieve.

couldntlovethebearmore · 30/08/2016 23:03

My guess is

couldntlovethebearmore · 30/08/2016 23:04

Sorry posted before I was ready..codsall station. There is an actual pub at the station too. But not the type to be open after 8pm when the regulars hang up their domino mats for the night. As you'd expect for most pubs in a very rural location tbh...

BadLad · 30/08/2016 23:08

Right, team, a few words about today. On the whole, I was impressed.

They've gone, Percy.

From memory.

Buzzardbird · 30/08/2016 23:13

What about Shifnal could, although that was very late at night.

Gileswithachainsaw · 30/08/2016 23:31

this thread needs a trigger warning for trypophobics

GrinGrinGrin

OK so someone goes out with a phone charger and no bank card. Manages to stay out watching later than planned despite having no access to money.

She can't read a watch or a departure board to make sure she's on the right train at the right time and phones a friend moaning rather than calling a taxi.

Not only must she have spent the whole time she was out being given Co pmetwky anti social (how else would there be no battery left? She did have the sense to charge before she left right????)

She could have asked the staff at the pub for a room or if there was anywhere local she could stay.

Age could have used the pub phone to call round taxi firms and get a the best price.

She could have called her friends for help.

But no let's blame the couple who helped her and tool a massive risk picking up a stranger in the middle of the night who easily could have robbed them.

Gileswithachainsaw · 30/08/2016 23:34

Ffs autocorrect

Bloody typos

Sure you can figure out what I meant

IHopeYouStepOnALegoPiece · 30/08/2016 23:35

*Fuck me, this poster should come with a 'trigger warning', for trypophobics.

There's more holes in her posting history than in a swiss fucking cheese factory*

Absolutely made my night there worra 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

DesolateWaist · 30/08/2016 23:35

OK so someone goes out with a phone charger and no bank card.

It is very possible that she has gone to the pub and explained her problem. It was quite likely that someone else in the pub had a charger she could use.

t4nut · 30/08/2016 23:58

So at 26 she can't manage to organise herself enough to get home on a night out?

She's lucky she got a lift to a main train station.

DotForShort · 31/08/2016 00:05

Some brilliant responses on this thread.Grin

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 31/08/2016 00:06

Why wouldn't you leave a stranger stranded? Too bloody dangerous to get involved.

Plus if she's old enough to go out she's old enough to take responsibility for her own transport. I get that it's distressing but I don't know many people that would help a stranger to that extent.

And what does 'a victim' look like.

Several times a week I have strangers approaching me for money with some sob story or another when I am waiting outside the train station, I wouldn't give them a penny as I'm too cynical now.

MyWineTime · 31/08/2016 00:11

That's a whole new level of ineptitude!
Do let us know how she gets on with her complaint to the rail company.

Redlocks28 · 31/08/2016 00:12

You appear to have a number of feckless friends, OP! Are you doing a Creative Writing GCSE or are you a journo?!

redannie118 · 31/08/2016 00:14

This reply has been withdrawn

The OP has privacy concerns, and so we've agreed to take this down now.

laidbacknecko · 31/08/2016 00:51

I love this thread!

After the horror of last night's troll (still haunted by the images and WISH I hadn't clicked on the threads) this is just the thing to get back on the jolly. Grin

Thanks OP!

DrFoxtrot · 31/08/2016 00:52

Slightly off topic...I was once in a nightclub and a woman plugged her phone in to charge near where we were stood Shock then tried to blame us when it appeared her phone had been stolen. Lucky for her one of her friends had picked it up. In a nightclub!!

I want OP to come back, I want it all to be true please. I feel positively organised and that I'm winning at life when I read stuff like this. I know there are inconsistencies, please stop pointing them out, it's spoiling it for me Grin.

EttaJ · 31/08/2016 01:06

Oh yes advanced search is very helpful. What a crock of ...