Eating nuts on train?

[Watdidusay]

I need a sense check. I was eating a biscuit on a national rail train yesterday. It had a peanut butter filling.
I was standing in the gangway as the train had almost no seats.
At one stop, a woman and 2 young children were getting off. As they were waiting for the train to stop the woman said to me you can't eat peanuts on the train as it's a confined space. I didn't immediately understand and didn't really respond properly. She then got off.

I feel humiliated and stupid. I knew sometimes on planes this wasn't allowed if someone was allergic but didn't know this was the case on trains.

AIBU for not understanding?

No. My son is allergic to peanuts but I don't expect people not to eat them on public transport.

A lot of people are allergic to dairy and it is one of the allergens that can be most dangerous airborne but no one expects people not to have a coffee on a train

You definitely are allowed. The difference to a plane is that can easily get off and quickly seek medical assistance if needed. Can open a window and ventilate. Neither of these are possible on a plane

It's really hard having a child with an allergy, but we can't expect others to always adjust to this

Of course you can eat them

If you have a severe nut allergy then it must be really scary being surrounded by people who could have eaten or be eating nuts, but the fact is that there is no signage telling people not to eat or use products containing allergens on public transport, so you were not in the wrong.

People are allergic to all kinds of things. I once worked with a woman who was allergic to perfume - we all stopped wearing any to work because of her - but you can't ask people to not wear or consume any of the very long list of things that other people are allergic to - it just isn't practical.

There aren't any rules about this OP.

I eat nuts on trains. GWR regularly sell nuts on trains, they are sold from the trolley's they push up and down the aisles. I don't see how the woman knew if the peanut was in a biscuit filling. There is a whole floor at work that is nut free due to a member of staff having an allergy though.

My son has a serious nut allergy. It never even occurred to me that people shouldn't eat nuts on a train! Or on a bus, in a cinema, at a restaurant etc.

Planes are totally different as you are potentially hours away from medical assistance.

the last time I was on a train I had a grain salad containing nuts. I asked the person next to me if she had an allergy. If she had I would have moved to the next carriage to eat then washed my hands but I would eat nuts if sat next to my own family/ftiends. I’d expect someone to say something if they had an issue, not just expect people never to eat nuts.

Of course you are allowed. Assuming there’s no signs up or announcements saying ‘please don’t open peanuts as someone on board has an anaphylactic allergy’ (in which case surely you wouldn’t want to risk killing someone despite your legal right to eat peanuts)

The woman was an entitled idiot, of course you can eat nuts on a train!

I assumed she knew because one of her children was having a reaction to it, hence getting off. Perhaps I misunderstood. However you weren't unreasonable at all op, it's a public space.

Peanuts are a perfectly normal food. It is fine to eat them anywhere, including on a train.

Allergies are terrible and very difficult to manage but they cannot be managed by expecting all public places to be kept free of all allergens. The only places that is is reasonable to expect people to keep allergen-free are primary schools where a child doesn't yet have the maturity to manage their own allergen exposure risk. Everywhere else, the individual with the allergy (or their parent, if it's a child) needs to make their own risk assessment for their activities that assumes that anyone they are near to may be eating peanuts or eggs or strawberries or cheese at any moment and on the basis of that assumption decide what their own actions will be, not controlling the actions of the rest of the population.

There aren’t any rules as such but there aren’t rules for many things that just make life better for others.
It must be so stressful having any food allergy in daily life!
Northernexiled is a lovely example of someone who is thoughtful and kind.
I think that with life being 100 miles per hour, most of us wouldn’t really stop to think about eating nuts on a train so this post is really useful and thought provoking.

I don't eat them on the tube because I worry that someone might get anaphylaxis and it would be my fault. There's no rule that says you can't though.

Imo the train is different because it's easier to move carriage. If someone asked me to put them away I would though.

A friend with severe peanut allergy has told me that she can smell peanuts from quite a distance and they make her feel a bit "funny" even if she hasn't come into direct contact with them.

They sell them on trains

The woman was wrong OP. There are no rules on trains and often not on planes either.
DS has a allergy to nuts so I’d wipe down his seat etc if we were travelling in case of crumbs.
You did nothing wrong.

What utter rubbish.you can buy nuts on trains, people will have drinks with almond milk etc.

People are really unreasonable. Nuts are widely consumed, allergy uk guidance is not to ban but focus on allergy sufferers practising good habits eg handwashing, no food sharing, checking labels etc, carrying epipens.

Shoulda said good job you're getting off then

It would never even have entered my head OP. I'm not a dedicted vegetarian but I rarely eat meat so nuts are a daily and important part of my diet
If someone near me had said to me it was a problem because of allergy then of course I would have respected that.

I have a friend who has this with oranges and similar fruit.

There are many allergens and it isn't realistic to expect trains to be fully allergen free. I wish they were!

Mum of a peanut allergy kid here. YANBU because you didn't know and didn't realise you could potentially be putting someone in harms way. But now that someone has pointed it out to you, please do think about whether or not you eat nuts in confined spaces in future. A lot of people think it's 'their right' to eat what they want where they want and as we have become such a selfish and uncaring society, they might think 'not my problem' but allergies are truly life threatening for some people and your little snack can probably wait til you get home.

Actually, I find eating on public transport is disgusting in general, it's unhygienic and smelly and usually unpleasant for anyone that has to watch and listen to people eating while they're just trying to get from A to B. Save it for the dinner table.

This is highly unlikely to be the actual allergy and more likely to be anxiety. True airborne nut allergy is incredibly rare and typically only triggered by large scale activity eg being in an industrial facility where nuts are ground etc. Nut odor does not spread molecules to trigger an allergy.

Eating is not unhygienic, neither are food smells. Lots of people taking long train journeys where they need to eat a meal on the way, its why many trains sell food. Yabvu.

So on long train journeys no food? So train buffet carts and carriages should close down? No fine dining on the orient express?