I am usually on the opposite side of discussions like this but...

[seeker]

.....here goes! Our nephew is 15, and lives in Dubai. Last night we got a phone call from him at 10.30. He was at Heathrow, having just flown in on his own on a plane that was actually due in at about 7. The plan was that he would get the Heathrow Express into London then get the train up to Yorkshire to stay with friends. But he realized that he had probably missed the train up North and vey sensibly rang us. Dp did the 3 hour round trip to collect him. Apparently the contingency plan was that he was to go into London, find a police officer and ask to be directed to a hotel.

Does this strike anyone as a sensible thing to expect a 15 year old to do? And, on a scale of 1-10, how furiousl woould you be with SIL when you see her next? We are the nearest relations to Heathrow, and we didn't even know he was coming. We could have been away for the weekend, or, more likely, we could very well both have drunk half a bottle of wine so not be ale to collect him...

Even on the expected arrival time of the plane, he would have had to get through customs, Heathrow Express goes to Paddington, then he would have had to get to Kings Cross/St Pancras. And at the other end he'd have still needed to get from the station to home. A lot of buses and trains from the centre of my home town, Leeds, Yorkshire's biggest city, are soon after 11 pm. Madness!

just for fun. I'll buck trend a bit

when I was 11 I was expected to travel to London cross it on tube then travel onwards. I was met by relatives at final destinations but alone in London. I did this about once a month for some time. So to me I think cor 15 that's ancient surely could have coped!

however, I would NOT expect such things of my own dcs oh no no.

DOn't get me started on the bomb scare time that was my one moment of erm shit I'm a child alone in London and erm erm erm.

I believe in them having to accept much more responsibility and being freer than most people. If the flight was due in at 8 in the morning, say, and he then had to make his own way from Heathrow to Yorkshire I wouldn't have thought twice about that. It's the arriving in the evening that's horrified me.

I'm not sure hotels accept solo guests who are 15! At least, I recently had a hard time booking a hotel room for my niece, who is 18, in Paris.

Thank God you were there.

YANBU - that's more than a bit daft. I could go on for ages with all the different things that could have gone wrong (lost his wallet, had his money stolen, didn't have enough cash to start with & can't find a cash machine). It's one thing to cope with bumps in the road when you're close to home, but after a 6 hr flight that time of night, you aren't completely 100%.

I used to travel quite a bit on my own when I was your nephew's age, but I always had an adult waiting for me at the airport when I landed, or a quick trip (30 mins or less) away.

There has to be a bit more to this than meets the eye. I wonder if he didn't tell her he already had a reservation at a hotel, got the cash for it, and decided to pocket it instead?

Don't know about Dubai, but I know the schools in Kuwait have been on summer break for a few weeks now. Long enough to give a bored 15 yr old time to nag his mother into letting him travel, him making a big deal about his independence, and her being frazzled to the point of not checking over his travel plans for him?

YABU - he DID have a plan, it just went wrong and so he called you. I think 15 is old enough to be travelling on your own if you're a confident child.

I think it's old enough to be travelling on your own too - but I don't think it's old enough to be looking for a hotel in central London at 11.00 at night!

And he was lucky we were in, and hadn't had some wine so we were able to collect him - none had let us know he was coming.