Woman refused bus travel at 3am for being 20p short on bus fare is raped... What would you have done

arknor · 8 Jun 2012 at 14:53

if i had 20p i would have offered it but in reality its her own fault for overspending and non of the bus passengers or the driver can take any of the blame for what happened to her on that night.

im sure she was more than aware what the bus cost.

why didnt she get the bus but get off a few stops earlier than her destination and have her mum meet her there?

20pence is probably 3-4stops at most

dirtychinchilla · 8 Jun 2012 at 14:53

Bus drivers in general are absolute sour ****, they have a very strongly exaggerated sense of self importance. I bet she would have done the same if she's turned up with a £20 note. Anything is too much trouble for them.

Muffin` · 8 Jun 2012 at 14:53

Morba said:
I would have given her the 20p, especially at that time of night. The driver was a joke though, he should have let her on or allowed her to go get more money if the cashpoint was so close.

Doesn't mean any of them, driver included, are at fault for the rape though.

^

muon · 8 Jun 2012 at 14:53

steve-h said:
scumbag driver.

Drivers probably come across people coming up short all the time. I bet it's company policy not to let people coming up short, on the bus.

Although in London, I've seen many young girls/women blag free bus rides late at night or early morning.

Rids · 8 Jun 2012 at 14:54

Looking back at it now in hindsight? Yeah of course, if I'd known it would have avoided that I'd have reached into my pocket and given her 20p.

But at the time - I dont know. There are a lot of spongers / chancers in this world, I guess I would have used my judgement - I wish I could say for sure that I'd have given it to her but I'm an eternal cynic.

arc@css · 8 Jun 2012 at 14:55

I think if you go back a good few years, maybe even a little less, the driver would have been much more likely to have let her off the twenty pence. Poor girl.

lookitsjonno · 8 Jun 2012 at 14:57

But if every woman was "20p short" thats a lot of lost revenue

Muffin` · 8 Jun 2012 at 14:57

anyon said:
Drivers probably come across people coming up short all the time. I bet it's company policy not to let people coming up short, on the bus.

Although in London, I've seen many young girls/women blag free bus rides late at night or early morning.

Indeed, you cannot hold any blame to anyone but the rapist, the bus driver was doing his job, he can be disciplined/lose his job 'for 20p'. It's the girls fault for not having enough money to get the ticket, but it's irrefutably the rapists fault for the rape.

starfighter · 8 Jun 2012 at 14:58

As the driver I wouldn't feel that bad, he is just doing his job and if he gave everyone who was short of cash money then he would be losing out on money all the time. I would feel more guilty if I was a person at the front of the bus as it would be more of a one off kind of thing.

Is this story actually true. I want a link to the newspaper article. Sounds like it's made up.

cm1179 · 8 Jun 2012 at 14:59

as others have said, it wasn't the drivers fault.

he must feel pretty awful though. i'd have let her off the 20p. it was christmas time aswell.

Sho · 8 Jun 2012 at 15:00

arknor said:
why didnt she get the bus but get off a few stops earlier than her destination and have her mum meet her there?

20pence is probably 3-4stops at most

Doubt it. 20p here will only get you 1 stop. Yup 1 bloody stop.

Efour · 8 Jun 2012 at 15:00

Terrible outcome but not the drivers fault, with hindsight im pretty sure everyone would have stumped up 20p or let her on for free.

Skillmister · 8 Jun 2012 at 15:00

arknor said:
why didnt she get the bus but get off a few stops earlier than her destination and have her mum meet her there?

20pence is probably 3-4stops at most

Can't do that around here it's so ****ing annoying. Costs £2 or so to get from headingley to my house or £1 to get from headingley to half way to my house. Few weeks ago i only had £1.60 and he said i could get a £1 ticket or nothing :confused:

Sure she could probably have gotten somewhere other than the final destination but it's still odd.

bus driver shouldn't feel bad, he was doing his job no matter how harsh it may seem. The people on the bus are the indecent ones for not lending her 20p. I've lent money out loads of times on buses/trains and have received my fair share at others

flibbage0 · 8 Jun 2012 at 15:01

A woman out at 3am on her own and 20p short, a decent person would let her on the bus.

Luke · 8 Jun 2012 at 15:01

Just how drunk and obnoxious was she? This will have had a bearing on whether or not the driver would be more or less likely to overlook the 20p.

spudbynight · 8 Jun 2012 at 15:01

Gilly said:
I've given cash on a bus to someone that came up short before.

Done it in shops too.

Yep, just common decency.

The bus driver should be ashamed of himself. As I understand it our local bus company has a policy of allowing any women to travel at night who say they don't have enough for the fare.

estebanrey · 8 Jun 2012 at 15:02

It's all very well having a go and the bus driver post-event (I'm sure had someone posted a story about not being let off 20p that didn't result in rape he'd have taken a lot less flack), but no one is asking why she didn't have the full fare in the first place.

If the cashpoint was only a few steps away, why didn't she go to it whilst she was waiting for the bus? Was this bus the last one of the night, if not why didn't she go to the cashpoint and wait for another? Was she 20p short because she fancied 'one more drink' knowing full well it could limit her getting on the bus?

Robbo · 8 Jun 2012 at 15:02

You can't blame anyone but the rapist.

The notion of it even remotely being the fault of the driver is simply ridiculous.

vicisthebest · 8 Jun 2012 at 15:02

I remember catching the bus home from school one time, it was a school bus but one you had to pay for, and the fare was 60p. As a result, because lots of people paid with £1 coins, the driver was often short of 20p pieces, particularly if you were further back in the queue. The solution (I think anyway, but maybe it just makes too much sense) would be to make sure that bus had some extra 20ps. Instead, the drivers would constantly tut, sigh, make people stand to the side while others got on and he got some change, and they sometimes were downright rude.

One day I got on with only a £5 note to pay with. The guy just looked at me, rolled his eyes, said, "I haven't the change for that" and told me to get off.

I had to ring my dad to come get me, we didn't even go home, we went straight to the bus depot where my dad bawled at them for the way he'd treated me, apparently if people don't have the fare or the driver doesn't have the change they're supposed to get you to fill out a form (like at a petrol station if you've forgotten your wallet) and you can pay later or have a bill sent.

I got £15 compensation

In fact - are those forms still being used on buses? Why didn't the driver give her one?

estebanrey · 8 Jun 2012 at 15:03

flibbage0 said:
A woman out at 3am on her own and 20p short, a decent person would let her on the bus.

So you encourage sexist policies then?