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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Would you report a 12 year old unattended on a train?

300 replies

GloGirl · 22/03/2021 00:09

If you saw two 12 year olds on a train without a grown up would you report it?

"Any adults who saw two 12-year-olds getting off a train on their own should have questioned that."

YABU - call the police!
YANBU - no, I wouldn't

BBC News - Missing Balloch schoolgirls spent night locked inside train
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-56476935

Really weird story.

OP posts:
Vinto · 22/03/2021 00:11

No, many school children use trains as part of their daily journeys to school.

The fact there’s two together suggests they aren’t alone. Secondary age children are primed to become more independent, having trips out and socialising away from parents.

curtainleaf · 22/03/2021 00:13

No, as pp, many travel on trains for school etc. Especially 2 together.

LemonRoses · 22/03/2021 00:14

Don’t be daft. How would they get to school?

Vinto · 22/03/2021 00:14

It seems the mother is very vocal in looking for someone to blame, usually that’s because it scared the living daylights out of her and she doesn’t want to blame herself/her child.

Snookie00 · 22/03/2021 00:14

Whole story sounded totally fishy. Where were they all evening? Local kids have been jumping on and off trains all lockdown so they can drink alcohol uninterrupted as the conductors aren’t walking through the train. Suspect that these 12yo girls were up to no good.

Givemeabreak88 · 22/03/2021 00:16

Wtf why would anyone do that?? My friends daughter use to travel to school by train from 11 when she started secondary school. A lot of children do

MythsandSparkles · 22/03/2021 00:17

I don’t think I’d even notice to be honest.

Primary age I think I do an unconscious check of “does that child have an accompanying adult” but after that no.

Sounds like the mothers trying to distract from the fact that the kids were playing on the trains? Does she think if she makes enough of a fuss about the fact that they were missed overnight that BTP won’t have something to say about them riding without tickets?

It’s a really weird story all round, I mean, logically trains are cleaned at the end of a service day so someone should have seen them unless they were deliberately hiding?

DelurkingAJ · 22/03/2021 00:17

Very unlikely...I was 5’9” at 12... and passed as 14 or so. And if there were two of them even less likely!

TurquoiseDress · 22/03/2021 00:17

I was reading that story earlier, sounds a bit weird and like the mum didn't actually know where her daughter had been/was and also mentioned something like "their regular haunts"- where the 12 year olds would hang out??

mrsmalcolmreynolds · 22/03/2021 00:18

In their parents' shoes I'd be concentrating on (a) giving my 12yo a huge rocket for thinking getting on a train without a ticket was OK and (b) thinking about how to develop better judgment in my kid.

safariboot · 22/03/2021 00:21

No, I don't think I'd bat an eyelid.

But for them to be locked in the train overnight I think someone must have made a mistake, they should have been noticed.

GreyhoundG1rl · 22/03/2021 00:21

The mother is demanding to know why no one spotted them. Why doesn't she demand to know what the fuck they were playing at?

IHaveBrilloHair · 22/03/2021 00:21

No, kids of that age use trains all the time.

MiddlesexGirl · 22/03/2021 00:23

No. I read that story and thought it was very odd that the mum thought someone should have said something. Two twelve year olds on a train. Perfectly normal.

Vinto · 22/03/2021 00:28

Ms Greenan said she did not believe the children had deliberately hidden inside the train.

Does she really believe that? Considering they knew they were doing something they shouldn’t have been, they’d already been told off by a rail transport worker and had sneaked their way on to the train.

I’m not sure what the current situation is with the train conductors in relation to covid and if they are actually manning the whole train. I’d hope to teach my children that even if they have been an idiot, they should approach a responsible adult and ask for help.

Grenlei · 22/03/2021 00:30

If it was late at night, maybe.
During the day it wouldn't have concerned me at all.

Falling asleep on the last train and waking up in the sidings is something that happened to several friends of mine years ago (usually after a night of heavy drinking). I suspect the girls may have been trying to stay out late/ hide on the train but perhaps didn't expect to get locked in.

waitingpatientlyforspring · 22/03/2021 00:30

I would be raising hell with my dc asking why they thought they could ride a train without a ticket!

I find it hard to believe two girls fell asleep and weren't noticed. I suspect they were hiding (and possibly fell asleep in hiding place).

Bopahula · 22/03/2021 00:30

I don't buy for a minute they fell asleep either. 🤔. They hid thinking it was funny.

Mum is blaming everyone but the kids and her parenting.

2late2fixate · 22/03/2021 00:31

Nope. They had a night of mischief and hopefully they have learnt from it.

Lessofallthisunpleasantness · 22/03/2021 00:35

This is scary for the Mum, but the kids will have a great story for years! I see kids on trains on their own all the time, wouldn't think it unusual. Maybe if late at night as this was.

Wavey123 · 22/03/2021 00:38

The mum should know where her 12 year old is ideally, surely at the moment if she’s not at school then she shouldn’t be hanging around with mates anyway

PenfoldPenny · 22/03/2021 00:42

They both fell asleep on the train.............. sure they did, yes that totally happened. Hmm
I think the truth is they were larking about and ended up stuck on the train.

UhtredRagnarson · 22/03/2021 00:43

They hid for a laugh. Either that or they were drinking and did fall asleep.

NiceGerbil · 22/03/2021 00:44

Train driver has fucked up. They're supposed to walk through and check no one there before calling it a night.

Viviennemary · 22/03/2021 00:45

No. I wouldn't report it. And they deliberately hid on the train IMHO.