Woman raped after getting kicked off bus at 3am

[joben]

Is this just a another shit example of the selfish society? Could the bus driver or one of the other passengers not just given her the 20p she needed for her fare?

news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16243388

Oh.my.god.
I live and travel in london, supposedly the buttcrack of the country, leading the way in all that is nasty and selfish and uncaring.
But i just DO NOT recognise what so many of you are talking about....it is so rare to see a bunch of people stand by and not lend a hand to another human being.
20p is nothing, 8 minutes waiting for your bus to move cos a passanger and the driver were disagreeing is a lot of time. So why did no one help?

Drivers obviously can use discretion, does that mean they let everyone get on? Regardless of ability to pay? So in essence bus fares become voluntary contributions. Not going to work that, is it?

So i would rather think that perhaps this woman was a bit of an arse (and 8 minutes holding up a bus full of people is ecessive and doesnt suggest PARD) than think that a whole bus was full of heartless, uncaring bastards.

I have seen on many threads people talking about how women have a responsibility to keep themselves safe, eg. by not getting drunk, making sure they have transport sorted, not walking through dark alleys at night etc. There is always a fierce counter argument that the woman has no responsibility for getting raped, that the rapist will rape someone if he wants to.

So in this case, I would say it was a bit rubbish that nobody on that bus gave her 20p, but that they are not responsible for the fact she was raped.

It was mean of the bus driver not to let her go to the cash point, but that he is not responsible for the fact she was raped.

It was a bit irresponsible of her not to check bus times and fares and make sure she was there on time with plenty of cash, but that she is not responsible for the fact she was raped.

As for the fact she was vulnerable at night alone, she put herself into that situation in the first place. She should have taken responsibility for making sure she had money for the bus and therefore could get herself home safely.

So as far as I can see, she was to blame for not being able to get herself home, and the people on the bus, driver included, did not show any compassion by not offering to help.

It is terrible what happened, but nobody is to blame for the fact she was raped, unless all women who voluntarily walk alone anywhere at night should blame themselves if they are raped. She was unprepared, the bus driver was impatient, the passangers were unhelpful.

Yes, the only person at blame for the attack is the Rapist himself.

but - If the driver had waived the 20p (on a £5 fare! WTF was wrong with him????), or one of the passengers had given her 20p, she would not have been made to walk that way on her own.

The majority of people in Nottm would know that to get to Mansfield you have to go up Mansfield Road, and there are several really dodgy areas you have to walk through.
I would not allow a woman to walk home on her own, if she was a small amount short on the bus (if I didn't have the money myself, I would ask other people to chip in, or would argue vehemently with the bus driver), at that time of night.

I can't see how anyone would. :(

(it's not about taking blame away from the rapist who would have done it anyway, to someone, it's about minimizing the risk for that one lady - it's not her fault that she didn't have enough, but other people could have done the decent thing and helped her.)

My Dh is a bus driver.

He has been in this situation.
He has twice given a nominal amount of change out of his pocket to a young person who was just short.
He had a verbal, then a written warning and was told if he does it again he will be fired. They have cameras on the drivers and he would be caught and they would fire him, sadly, so he daren't do it in similar circs.
It IS a bit odd that the bus sat for 8 mins supposedly, as they are in trouble for being late too. They are also in trouble for being early, so the bus might have been running early so the driver could 'afford' the time, iyswim.

It is a pity no other passenger could find 20p for her, either. I hope I would have.

However the fault lays ENTIRELY with the rapist for raping her.

Not the driver.
Not the passengers.
Not the girl/woman.

The Rapist.

I do hope she is physically and mentally healing - it sounded particularly horrific I must say.

that's appalling that the company would discipline a driver for being helpful :(

especially when it means they're having to place a young person at risk.

I have to say, if the driver sat with the bus for 8 mins and wouldn't let her go to a cashpoint across the road that does seem petty, but he couldn't forsee what would happen.
I am not an apologist for all bus drivers, I know some of them can be gits, but surely the Rapist is solely responsible for his crime?

The milk of human kindness has all but vanished down the drain on this thread.

I'm going to hide it

Yes, nickel it IS appalling. They simply fire the driver (one after 20 years service) and hire fresh staff on minimum wage / poor contracts. Makes sense for the bus company, crap for long term staff, crap for poor passenger who finds themselves 10/20/80p short with a kind bus driver who'd like to help but darent as the camera is always on. Sounds like this driver was less kind, tho>?

I agree that it wasn't the driver or passengers fault she got raped but they did put her at risk This guy was obviously on the prowl and the driver and passengers could have helped keep this girl safe. I have helped on a couple of occasions similar to this....I would hate to think of my DS being stuck like this let alone a girl....truly shocking.

why can't the driver help if it is his OWN money from his pocket? Seems strange

A man on the radio said the vast majority of bus company's allow their drivers to take the contact details of passengers if they are short of fair, if they think the passenger will be left in a vunerable position.

However it's telling in this case that the bus company have not made any comment on this case, despite numerous requests from the media. I hope they are changing their policy as we speak.

nickelbarapasaurus

"it's not her fault that she didn't have enough"

Yes it was.

"but other people could have done the decent thing and helped her."

yes they could.

As far as I can see the rape and the people not helping her are two different things.

She was raped because of the rapist not because of the bus driver or the passengers.

would I help out someone who was 20p short for the bus? Yes, if I was aware that this was the situation, but it's pretty likely that the vast majority of the passengers were unaware that she was just 20p short of her fare, particularly as she didn't explicitly ask anyone to help.

Should the bus driver have let her on - yes, given the extreme weather conditions I think he should - he would have known that she was just 20p short.

However, it is still not his fault that she was raped.

the only person who should be blamed is the rapist.

Company rules re mixing passengers money and private money.
Seems stupid as the driver cannot 'tamper' with any money put in the hopper by the passenger, ie steal, and if he gives money to a passenger it is his own business but thems company rules apparantly, and people need their jobs.

A passenger would not be subject to any restrictions and as I say I hope I would have given the poor woman 20p but no-one did.

I don't suppose anyone foresaw what would happen though

It was her responsibility to check her purse before the bus came

As for the fact she was vulnerable at night alone, she put herself into that situation in the first place

Nice victim blaming there!

Seems to be everyones fault but the rapists!

I am 'blaming' her for not having the right change for the bus, not blaming her for being raped! FGS.

Wasn't there a teenager who was raped in a similar situation about 10 years ago forcing the bus companies to review their policy so they couldn't refuse someone under 18 to get on the bus at night?

Yes the rapist is responsible, but I would classify a lone female on a night bus as vulnerable.

My understanding is that bus companies are licensed by a city/county council so there should be a code of practice.

This story makes me sick

Why did no-one offer her 20p? A young woman on her own. Of course it is the rapist's fault and own doing but For the sake of a little bit of human decency I hope the people on the bus are finding it hard to sleep at night

tuna, hopefully the bus company might change the rule after reading about this, and make your DH's life easier :)

the article says she was out with friends. why didtn they give her the 20p?

OK, didn't realise that it was indeed the last bus. (I assumed that nightbuses would keep going until the start of the day buses - which are probably at about 5am anyway.

also didn't realise that they argued for 8 minutes, and there were people on the bus who could have given 20p, etc. I agree the driver and the passengers could (and perhaps should) have made a small gesture to help her, however I still think that it is wrong to lay any blame at their door for what happened.

I think noitall summed it all up very fairly.

aprt from the fact that of course there was someone to blame, and it was the rapist, although I'm sure it was just an oversight on her part to not say that.

fucking appalling.

absolutely the shit that did this to the poor woman is the lowlife who is to blame for raping her. but imo, those who stood by and allowed a young vulnerable woman be refused onto a bus for the sake of 20 fucking pence should be ashamed of themselves. We do not know if this sick joke of a human being would have attacked another woman. He might have had no other opportunity to do so. we do not know that. what we do know, what is clear, that if that woman had been allowed on that bus, she would not have been raped.

We have to, as a society, take responsibility for caring for those around us. That does not stop rapists, but it does show this world that most people are caring and loving and inherently good people.

A short while ago, I had to get to a place out of town to get my son from nursery who was very unwell. it was the daytime, I had not enough money, DH had the car and my cashcard pin did not work. I asked the bus driver very kindly if I could give my home details and pay once I got home. He told me to hop on. It was a £3.50 fare. I offered the £1 I had and he told me to keep it and he drove me one stop out of the way of the bus to get me closer to the nursery.

20 fucking pence. I hope he is proud of his job to make his company money.

The bus driver was obviously being a dickhead.

I just cannot understand why not one person on that bus offered a young woman 20p to prevent her being stranded on her own at 3am.