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Original poster

Cutting Edge: Would You Save A Stranger?

28 replies

Kathyis6incheshigh · 02/04/2009 21:21

Anyone else watching this (channel 4, now)?

They said at the beginning that there are 700 000 violent attacks on strangers a year in the UK. Did I get that right? It seems an awful lot if true.

OP posts:
Original poster
Kathyis6incheshigh · 02/04/2009 21:40

Bloody hell this is awful, a bus full of people ignoring an attack on a 10 year old girl by a girl gang.

OP posts:
spookycharlotte121 · 02/04/2009 21:41

yep was right.... its frightening.

its awful. I cant believe people dont help especailly the ones on the bus. That poor girl being stamped on!!!

spookycharlotte121 · 02/04/2009 21:45

Oh god this thing in bristol is scary. My little sister hangs about in all of those places. I think she needs to watch this and wise up a little.

How horrendous!

southeastastra · 03/04/2009 09:25

omg this seriously upset me. especially the bus incident. wtf was the driver doing ignoring them?

MuffinBaker · 04/04/2009 14:34

I watched it and felt the woman who did nothing when that boy was being attacked, was trying to jusitfy her actions. Saying they all acknowledged and gave each other permission to not to do something, or whatever it was exactly she said. I mean wth was she on about.

People don't seem to care anymore.

I asked a young lad to stop swearing this morning. He apologised and then started laughing so I looked at him again and told him it wasn't very nice and there were children around. He said where? I wanted to say rude to swaer in front of women too but I suspect that would go over his head.

Original poster
Kathyis6incheshigh · 05/04/2009 11:23

I admired her for having the guts to admit to it on television (though not as much as I would have admired her if she had actually done something, obv). Thing is, we all say 'Oh yes, I would intervene' but when it comes to it so many people don't. I HOPE I would intervene but I don't know, so I don't want to judge anyone for not doing.

OP posts:
southeastastra · 05/04/2009 11:45

a whole bus ignoring though! i really do like to think i'd step in even if i just yelled alot. makes me scared to let my 15year old out.

public transport should have alarms.

bluebump · 05/04/2009 11:55

This programme reminded me of something that happened to my dad. My dad is a bus driver in a city and he had a drunk on his bus who was harrassing the passengers on a night shift. My dad stopped the bus and asked him to get off, the lad kept standing in the doors so my dad couldn't close them. In the end my dad got up and walked towards the drunk in the hope that he would move backwards and he could close the doors only he grabbed my dad and pulled him out of the bus and started beating him up whilst his mate hit my dad on the head with a beer bottle. A young girl on the bus just started taking pictures of it on her mobile phone and called the police and when the police came she showed them the footage and also named them as she knew who they were. My dad said she was incredibly brave and he was amazed that someone would step up and help him like that. Not that it did any good, the police haven't taken it any further despite it being around 6 months ago!

southeastastra · 05/04/2009 11:58

blimey your poor dad, do bus drivers not have any sort of procedure they follow in those cases? i imagine it happens alot. no panic button?

edam · 05/04/2009 12:06

I seem to recall there's a phenomenon that we are less likely to intervene when there's a whole crowd of people around. If you are a lone passer by and find someone in trouble, you are more likely to help out. Something about crowd psychology and not wanting to make the first move. Once someone does, loads of other people join in.

No excuse, though.

Mind you, dh is always helping strangers out and very rarely has anyone else offering to help - maybe he seems to be doing fine by himself? (For instance, woman bitten by a dog on the underground/man trapped under motorbike/woman being threatened by a mugger at a cashpoint.)

bluebump · 05/04/2009 12:08

Sometimes they have a security guard if it is a night shift as they anticipate problems. All buses have cctv on them too and drivers radio around if they have problems. I think they just try to get trouble makers off the bus any way they can!

expatinscotland · 05/04/2009 12:26

What they need to do is make the law tougher on these thugs, too, even if they are teens.

chocolepew · 05/04/2009 12:30

Bluebump raised a point I couldn't get over, even if they weren't going to help, why not take photos/videos on their phones?

It was shocking.

DSM · 05/04/2009 12:35

Muffinbaker - 'I wanted to say rude to swear in front of women'? FFS.

When I was 8 months pregnant, I had very low blood pressure and used to pass out all the time. Once, I was at a very busy bus stop, probably about 30 people at it, and countless walking past. I passed out, and came to lying on the ground, everyone staring but nobody helping. I had to get up, phone xp and sit on the kerb to wait for him as no one even got up from a seat to offer me it.

I know it is different but goes to show how little people will come to the aid of others.

If I was alone of with friends, I like to think I would intervene or at least call the police. I am pretty sure I would. However, if I was with DS, I don't think I would.

expatinscotland · 05/04/2009 12:39

One of the students I worked with passed out on the pavement on a busy Edinburgh street and people went so far as to kick her saying, 'Get up you drunk!'

Luckily a fellow student happened to be passing and phoned an amublance.

The girl in question is a Type I diabetic.

DSM · 05/04/2009 12:47

God..

Maybe its just people in Edinburgh then. Bastards

I was so visibly pregnant as well.

I remember a woman I worked with telling me that when she first moved to Edinburgh, she was walking across Leith Street, outside John Lewis, and she tripped and fell in the street. Nobody stopped, people literally stepped over her.

And we're meant to be a friendly bunch..

expatinscotland · 05/04/2009 12:51

This was right in Nicolson Street, DSM!

People stepping over her, walking past, laughing, then a couple of them nudging her and giving her a kick.

The poor lass could have died.

And it was about 2 in the afternoon, too.

DSM · 05/04/2009 12:54

Fuck sake.. thats really bad.

Oh the other side though, my dad actually was down in Leith at 2am the other day, in his car. He nearly hit a man lying in the middle of the road. He parked in the closest space, called an ambulance and went back to check on the man. Turns out, he was just sleeping.

Cannae win eh?

expatinscotland · 05/04/2009 12:56

She's a weegie, so she came in to tell the tale, of course, and showed us all the big bruises on her ribs where folk had kicked her.

She said first thing she did when she came to is ask the ambulance people to make sure her purse was still in her jacket pocket .

wintera · 05/04/2009 15:38

Oh dear. Am so sorry to say this, especially to anyone from Scotland on here, and very especially to anyone from Edinburgh, but my Husband and I had a terrible time in Edinburgh when we did our tour of Scotland in 2004. We got a lot of anti-English abuse when we there. We had a great time in all the other places we visited so please don't think I am anti-Scottish. We loved the Isle of Skye, Loch Ness, Loch Lomond, Inverness . . . but when we got to Edinburgh everything changed for us. Mind you, it was when Euro 2004 Football championships were going on, so maybe we were asking for trouble!!

expatinscotland · 05/04/2009 19:09

That's really odd, wintera, considering that Edinburgh has a very, very large percentage of English people living there.

wintera · 05/04/2009 19:16

Expat - Yes it was quite strange and very unexpected after the wonderful times we had in the other areas. But like I said I think the football had a lot to do with it to be honest. While we were there England won a few matches you see and it seemed to really anger certain people. Its a shame really as my Mother has always wanted to go to the Tattoo and would like me to take her but I must say its put me off wanting to go there again. I know other people who have been and had a fab time so maybe I will give it another go sometime!

MrsMuddle · 05/04/2009 19:42

That's Edinburgh for you!

(I'm a west-coaster)

expatinscotland · 05/04/2009 20:15

Hmm. We were living there in 2004 (my h and two eldest children are from Edinburgh), but I didn't notice any more or less anti-English sentiment.

But then, I don't really notice numpties like that because I don't really give a toss about stuff like that. I'm foreign-born, anyhow.

wintera · 05/04/2009 20:30

Expat - Maybe it was just our hotel that was full of the numpties then! Most of the trouble we got was actually inside the hotel we were staying in, which was a Travel inn in the city centre. We ended up checking out early to be honest. The people involved were still Scottish of course, but seeing as they were staying in a hotel, they were probably not from Edinburgh.

However, another incident happened at Murrayfield Stadium while we were watching a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert.

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