Teenagers accused tram passenger and shouted abuse with no staff present

[TheAverageJoanne]

Strange incident on a tram this morning. A boy about 16 approached a woman and accused her of taking a picture of him and posting on Facebook. He shoved his phone right up in her face. This was as he was getting off.

I was sitting next to this woman who was reading a book the whole journey.

The boy was accompanied by a girl of similar age who started yelling about "fucking nonces" and two men tried to intervene but the kids got off.

It was unpleasant and there was no conductor on the tram to deal with it. Should there have been? Is this due to cutbacks?

There will be cctv on the tram, but no, there sensibly should be staff other than the driver, but probably due to cuts there won't be.

Can’t ever remember seeing conductor on tram in Manchester

occasionally there be a group of ticket inspectors

We have trams but never with conductors. The driver has CCTV and is expected to deal with any issues and call for help if it is serious.

If two men tried to intervene and they got off, that's probably as good as it gets really.

Did you check that she was OK after they got off?

Where was it? I use trams in Manchester and Sheffield but not Blackpool so can’t comment there. In Manchester I pretty much never see conductors but in Sheffield there’s always one. I guess because in MCR you tap on and off whereas Sheffield you purchase on the tram, or show them your pass.