Group of friends in city

[bizarrw]

Would you let your dd, 12, out into a city to travel and shop alone with a group of friends and no adult?

Does she know the city? How far does she need to travel? What time of day? Milton Keynes or Mogadishu?

I live in central London and it's totally normal for groups of kids from secondary up to be out together in town. But that's a different kettle of fish from a group taking a long train trip to a city none of them know.

No not my 12 year old without an adult nearby. More like 14 year olds for me.

Local Northern city about 30 minutes train ride.

They do know the city but not very well.

Yes that's how I feel too.

It’s a no from me.

No

Yes but then our kids went to school 10 miles from home and had to navigate another large town / public transport from 11 years old.

There were certain provisos for social trips into city. Fully charged phone. Agree to stay contactable. With friends we knew and trusted (for most part. Some we didn't know). They stayed together. We talked beforehand about what trains / what stop / what to do if missed train / got wrong train, etc.

We didn't have tracking app 360 then but might be useful for anyone thinking of letting their kid venture out.

No. We live in an area just outside of a city centre (30 minute walk) and I absolutely wouldn't allow my 12 DD and 14 DS in without solid plans (cinema, bowling, out for food etc) without an adult present in town.
I work at our local college and the stuff I hear from our learners about what goes on in town during the day makes it a hard no for us.

We live 2 miles from a major city and DSD13 (year 9) regularly goes in with friends. Dad is a bit anxious about it but they’re a sensible group and always have a plan eg going to the Xmas market or for coffee / McDonalds etc.

At 12, for us there was a parent of one of the group having lunch/work meeting/shopping there too, with a defined going home time!
Think they were about 14/15 when they got the train on their own to do their own thing, but even then they went as a group.