She says she tried to get the train driver to call the police but he wouldn’t and so she stepped onto the tracks. I found the story on Jezebel which was chock full of “You go girl” type comments. But I thought her actions were overkill. The guys were wrong to harass her, but is it just me that thinks her reaction was way over the top? She could have been killed and that’s a really messed up thing to make the train driver live with, for one thing…
I’ll go with “stupid and fucking lucky she didn’t get killed.” I assume she had no cell phone with her, but when they got to the station, why didn’t she call the police?
Yeah, I’m going to go with overkill, as the politest word for what I think of this woman’s actions. Mad is probably closer. Drunk sports fans are a pain in the arse, particularly on the train, but they’re hardly an unknown concept - and most people just ignore them and get on with their lives. Yes, it shouldn’t happen at all, and this woman (as well as the one they were originally calling comments to) do indeed have the right to go through a journey without being hassled by anyone - and it was nice of this woman to get involved; most people don’t. But pissing off a large group of drunk guys isn’t a good idea - it sounds like the original “knock it off and leave her alone” bit could have been better handled in the first place.
I’m surprised that the train driver brushed it off and carried on regardless - and I’m kind of surprised the Robinson family stayed in that carriage on the train at Caerphilly; I’d have taken that opportunity to at least change carriage, given that the comments had apparently become “quite obscene”.
I can’t see that standing in front of the train to make it stop and wait for the police, to make a point, is a good idea - not only do you run the risk of being run over, but you’re making everyone on the train hate you, not just the pissed sports fans - she sounds thoughtless, at best.
I everyone one the train was an obnoxious ass, I’d applaud her. But if not (which I’m presuming), she inconvenienced a lot of people who didn’t deserve it.
I do wish that the engineer has stepped in though.
Yes, I agree that he should have called the cops, tdn. But in the absence of him doing so, I don’t think the right answer was for her to have stepped onto the tracks. I think she should have called the police from the station and then maybe they could have tried to have find the guys harassing her and the other woman. The chances of that actually happening aren’t high, I admit, but stepping in front of the tracks wasn’t the answer either.
The train was stopped when she stepped onto the tracks, so clearly she wasn’t in danger of it running her over at that point - the train driver was hardly going to start it up and roll right over her.
I’ve got mixed feelings about whether she was right to step onto the tracks. For me, it depends on how many bystanders were on board. If it was a small local service I could imagine a situation where the 30 football fans were the majority of the passengers. I think that would make it more acceptable than if they were just a small proportion of an otherwise packed train. (and that would also make sense of why she didn’t get off and wait for another train - maybe it was an hour or more away)
It also makes a difference how long the train was held up for. Inconveniencing a bunch of your fellow passengers for, say, 15-20 minutes so as to hold an abusive bunch of louts accountable for their behaviour seems reasonable to me. One or two hours - less so.
She should be fined heavily. No train user has the right to step on the tracks, let alone to block one train. What’s worse, when a train is stalled, it’s the whole neighbouring traffic that is altered and delayed.
And for what ? Because someone was about to be murdered ? No, because sexist chants were performed :rolleyes:
Right, so her husband, son, and all the other passengers who shared the enclosed train car could be exposed to pepper spray as well as being locked in with now hurt, angry, and probably-about-to-become-violent drunken douchebags — great idea!
I think mace or pepper spray should be used in self defence, not to punish someone you’re pissed at. Too bad if you’d like to give them a smacking but are too physically weak to do it, but it doesn’t entitle you to fetch out the chemical weaponry.
