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Original poster

To think 11 is not too young to travel on a train alone?

627 replies

Tellmeifimwrong · 25/04/2023 13:20

Please settle a debate! Happy to hear all opinions.

Is 11 years old, starting y7 in Sept, too young to take a one hour train journey, without parents but with a slightly younger child? Put on at one end by an adult and met at the other end by an adult, with a phone and data, and train staff informed? No behavioural problems or SEN.

OP posts:
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5
angela99999 · 27/04/2023 19:01

xILikeJamx · 25/04/2023 13:22

An 11 year old should not be responsible for a younger child on a train

Yes, this.
And personally I wouldn't send an 11 year old on a train alone anyway.

angela99999 · 27/04/2023 19:09

Brokendaughter · 25/04/2023 14:00

I travelled alone on a train to school & back at 11.
What I didn't realise was that I was being stalked while waiting at the very quiet small train station, because being 11 I didn't notice some 'old' bloke following me.

Luckily other people older than me did notice & contacted my school as they were concerned.
School contacted my parents & suddenly older boys from the local boys school started using the station I used, along with a school master (although I didn't know it was to keep me safe until after I stopped using the train.)

I ended up in boarding school instead of being a day girl just so I didn't have to make that journey any more.

So, I thought I was fine travelling by myself, but actually I probably wouldn't have been if other people I didn't even know hadn't cared enough about a random child to look out for me.

Yes I went to a boarding school by train at the beginning and end of school holidays by train, but typically this was on a "school train" where many children were travelling together. Children as young as 8 travelled on the train but not at all the same as travelling on an ordinary train.

Lollingabout · 27/04/2023 19:23

If it’s going to Hogwarts - fine.
If not - not fine.

Wooky073 · 27/04/2023 19:27

UK Law says that child should be old enough and responsible enough to be left alone without supervision. Generally considered to be approx age 12. So it depends on the child. However I personally wouldnt allow my child unaccompanied on any public transport - too many risks and i have a fear of child abduction. Check out the stats on how many kids go missing each day.

Middleagedspreadisreal · 27/04/2023 19:28

Not a chance. Especially with a younger one. You have no idea how paedophiles operate. Sad but true

Vynalbob · 27/04/2023 19:53

Nope I wouldn't be rolling the dice and hoping. I Once stayed on a tube train (I was staff travelling home) for 2 stops longer than I wanted to as a guy in his 50s struck up a conversation with a couple of younger end secondary school lads and seemed too intensely interested.....might have just been eccentric but I felt relieved when he got off first.

Point is there maybe 50-200 people on a train and I wouldn't trust them all blindly.

Being a pair Vs singular....I see your point just think it's a bit young (for less mature minded way too young)

🤞

Zoejj77 · 27/04/2023 20:00

It’s not your child I’d be worried about its others on the train. Women get harrassed in front of packed trains these days so I’d be nervous

T1Dmama · 27/04/2023 20:07

This depends on so many things.

  1. The attitude/maturity of the kids
  2. Have they traveled regularly by train with adults along this route
  3. where is this… travelling alone by train in some places is far safer than in others..
I personally wouldn’t put my DD on a train on her own, mainly because there are too many butters out there
Doversole7 · 27/04/2023 20:09

Personally I would say too young.

T1Dmama · 27/04/2023 20:12

Vynalbob · 27/04/2023 19:53

Nope I wouldn't be rolling the dice and hoping. I Once stayed on a tube train (I was staff travelling home) for 2 stops longer than I wanted to as a guy in his 50s struck up a conversation with a couple of younger end secondary school lads and seemed too intensely interested.....might have just been eccentric but I felt relieved when he got off first.

Point is there maybe 50-200 people on a train and I wouldn't trust them all blindly.

Being a pair Vs singular....I see your point just think it's a bit young (for less mature minded way too young)

🤞

100% this

T1Dmama · 27/04/2023 20:14

I personally wouldn’t put my DD on a train on her own, mainly because there are too many butters out there

obv mean ‘nutters’

Hmrk · 27/04/2023 20:28

I used to get the train by myself at age 11, but I wouldn’t recommend it. As I was groped a fair few times by men who took advantage when the train was very packed and would touch me inappropriately or push up against me. I was too scared to say anything.

jaundicedoutlook · 27/04/2023 20:54

Our DD took the train to go to school from Y7 (11 going on 12). Only a short journey to Sevenoaks, but she is a fairly careless child and we feared loss of bags, ending up in London, etc. As it happened she has been totally fine, now doing it for 2 years. We did a couple of dry runs at the weekend before she started to make sure she knew what she was doing. Also gave her a phone and set up find my phone so we could track her.

CatNoBag · 27/04/2023 21:06

I would say no. So many Brits seem to treat trains as a pub on wheels and start drinking as soon as they sit down, and that’s the ones that haven’t already gotten sloshed before they get on the train.

JustCri · 27/04/2023 21:06

In Italy children cannot travel unaccompanied on a train under the age of 14. I don't know if it helps...but I thought I'd mention it to give some sort of definite guideline, albeit in a different country...

squidgybits · 27/04/2023 21:15

Too many kids just vanishing these days, I wouldn't consider it

CurlewKate · 27/04/2023 21:51

@squidgybits "Too many kids just vanishing these days, I wouldn't consider"
List some.

SeahorsesRock · 28/04/2023 07:49

Tellmeifimwrong · 25/04/2023 13:20

Please settle a debate! Happy to hear all opinions.

Is 11 years old, starting y7 in Sept, too young to take a one hour train journey, without parents but with a slightly younger child? Put on at one end by an adult and met at the other end by an adult, with a phone and data, and train staff informed? No behavioural problems or SEN.

Couple of years ago I was sat on a train and the guy opposite was masturbating to his laptop whilst grinning at me.... take from that what you will...

mummyblah · 28/04/2023 08:28

Not rtft but some bits. I know ‘times are different’ now but my sister (9) and me (6) used to take the train every day to and from school back in the 90s. And then a bus! People used to look out for us, and it was mostly completely fine barring when a train was cancelled and another when I lost my season ticket.
Train was 30 mins, then we moved and it was an hour 🤣

opinionssoughtplease · 28/04/2023 08:33

Very irresponsible to put an 11 year old on a train with a younger child. Unfair, unsafe, not appropriate 🤦‍♀️😠

MagpieSong · 28/04/2023 14:29

T1Dmama · 27/04/2023 20:14

I personally wouldn’t put my DD on a train on her own, mainly because there are too many butters out there

obv mean ‘nutters’

I prefer butters! You’ve got me imagining a group of goats on the train! 😂

angela99999 · 28/04/2023 19:39

My son, then aged 16, was mugged (mobile taken and hit in the face) on a train. He was on his way home from college on a 15 minute journey, one of the rare occasions he was not travelling with a pack of friends.
He wasn't flashing his phone, too streetwise to do that, but it can happen to anyone. I've seen it happen to a schoolboy outside the local station.

WomblingTree86 · 29/04/2023 12:47

angela99999 · 28/04/2023 19:39

My son, then aged 16, was mugged (mobile taken and hit in the face) on a train. He was on his way home from college on a 15 minute journey, one of the rare occasions he was not travelling with a pack of friends.
He wasn't flashing his phone, too streetwise to do that, but it can happen to anyone. I've seen it happen to a schoolboy outside the local station.

I think you would be less likely to be mugged on a train than on the street so it's not really a reason for 11 year olds to not go on trains, unless you also are going to say they can never go out anywhere.

opinionssoughtplease · 29/04/2023 13:22

It’s not okay to ask an 11 year old to take care of another child in that situation. Completely unfair.

TaLooLaBell · 29/04/2023 13:49

Yes I think it's too young