Would you have helped this girl?

[divegirl]

Words fail me!

http://www.dailymail....s-20p-short-fare.html

Just to add, a month or so ago my daughter [age 15] got on the wrong bus home. After phoning me near hysterical the driver stopped the bus, tokk her phone and told me he would look after her. He kept her on the bus the whole way back round the route [free of charge] and waited until a friend turned up to collect her.

IMO that is how it should be!

Lisa x

[murraymints]

what on earth were the other passengers thinking of ???..incredulous ..for 20p.....poor girl.. of course I would have payed for her....I have picked up young kids sleeping rough in winter and payed for b& b for them to get them out of the snow...then taken them to appropriate place next morning to get sorted...a couple of young runaways ..only 14 and 15..could not walk past them in 12 inches of snow !!!..were reunited with grateful parents ...

[Cockneycarl]

"But no one yet has blamed the piece of scum that committed this savage attack and rape upon this poor girl"

Anotheolgit, i'm pretty sure that everyone here isn't blaming the girl and a public q&a site is hardly the place to vent and give descriptive pictures at what you'd want done with rapists and i thought my "Monster should hang" comment did lay blame at the rapists feet.

The sad fact is if you walk around at night with large amounts of money and jewelry drunk sooner or later you will cross the paths of people who will rob you.

If you're a woman drunk and alone sooner or later you will cross paths with a sexual predator, there is no doubt in my mind that like criminals looking for easy money that sexual predators go out every weekend and indeed weekdays in order to find a victim.
Unfortunately this time it was this poor girl, tomorrow some other girl and etc..
We need more police, more heavy sentences, more cctv, more awareness blah, blah, blah, blah but these crimes will continue happening given the right circumstances which is very sad.

[andy-hughes]

AOG - as far as i am concerned, the fact that anyone is put of any bus at any time of the day or night for the sake of 20p is unacceptable.

That's leaving aside entirely the dreadful consequences of this situation.

In a modern civilised society, it is totally unacceptable that anyone of any age in any state of dress or intoxication should be put off a bus for the sake of 20p.

We should be ashamed of our society that this has been allowed to happen.

[TOWIE]

Definately I would have paid her fare, and have done for others in the past, even at the checkout if someone was short.

In fact Mr. Towie did this only last week on the way home from work. He was on the bus, and at the next stop, a Mother got on with 2 small children and babe in arms, 2 bags of shopping and a fold up buggy - she searched her purse, but only had a fiver, the driver did'nt have change and asked her to get off, Mr. Towie went to the front and paid her fare then helped her with her shopping.

Hope that driver in the Mail hangs his head in shame.

[ummmm]

Cockney...just because someone has been out with friends it doesn't mean they are drunk!!

[paddywak]

It's typical of the jobsworth attitude people have. Though obviously not as seriuos as this case my mate and I had a similar experience a few weeks ago we waite for a bus which should have arrived a 22.55 it arrived at 23.15 and the driver would not accept our bus pass and insisted we pay as it was after 23.00 as we were both disabled and couldn't walk home we paid, despite the fact that he was late.The bus company did not even relply to our complaint. Now as I said this is a minor thing to what this young girl endured but it shows the attitude some people have these days. In fairness I must admit all the drivers aren't like this on one night after we'd missed the bus one driver who was running liight back to the depot turned round and picked us up and dropped us both off at our doors

[sir.prize]

Let's hope the judge keeps his word: ''An indeterminate sentence for public protection was a 'realistic possibility.Whatever the nature of the sentence, it will be a lengthy one indeed.''

The scum needs locking up for ever. Moran by name, moron by nature.

[ojread2]

I'd like to know where the girls friends, parents and any one else she was out and about with on that night went to? Why blame complete strangers for something they could never have seen coming?

[Cockneycarl]

This is the point i was making earlier ojread2 but surely a girl should be able to go out and enjoy herself without being attacked. Why did the mother agree to meet her at the forest recreation ground which after google mapping appears to be a large park and cemetery, surely a well lit bustling place would be the better option for a lone girl who could be drunk, tired and vulnerable to wait in safety?

[dzug2]

<<It's typical of the jobsworth attitude people have>>

Whilst I've no idea in this particular case remember many <<employers>> these days have jobsworth attitudes and would happily sack an employee for the slightest breach of their rules particularly if they were looking to reduce numbers anyway.

So extend the question - would you give up your job to help someone in these circumstances?

[marval]

Anotheolgit, when I said it was only down to one person, I meant the scum who raped her.

[ojread2]

Absolutely cockneycarl. Anybody, male or female should be able to not have to worry about this
Why blame complete strangers? Because it's easier than to think none of you friends or someone you know wasn't there for you

[pdq1]

As she was only short of the 20p I would have thought she could have taken the bus as far as her £4.80 allowed her and then walk the next stop. Or maybe given time on the bus she could have approached one of the customers.

[chaptazbru]

He shouldn't have put her off the bus for a measly 20p and that piece of filth shouldn't have raped her and yes, I would most defnitely have given her the 20p had I been on that bus. I hope the bus driver goes to see her and apologises, and means it.

[sp1814]

I agree with AOG 100% on this.

It's terrible...really horrible that this girl got raped, but it was a one in a million chance. The very worst the driver and passengers may have thought was that she would have a miserable walk back home to get the rest of her fare.

We cannot, absolutely cannot hold ourselves responsible for the lives of others.

Think about it this way:

"Perhaps if I held the door open for the girl who ran onto the Northern Line platform last night, she would've gotten home safely rather than being raped because she missed the last tube."

Incidentally, I WOULD have given her 20p, if anything to get the bus moving again.

[cathfromsaron]

i think condemnation of the perpetrator of the rape was implicit actually!

[sp1814]

I come across as rather dismissive in my previous post. I don't mean to, and I have every sympathy for the girl, but I want to put across that there are a whole load of events leading up to her rape, each of which contributed, and we're just looking at the 20p incident.

[jno]

sp1814 is surely correct. My own feeling is that I would certainly have given the girl 20p to get home at night if I'd known that was what she needed; but in fact if I'd been in the queue I'd probably just have heard someone arguing with the driver (my hearing is poor and I don't listen to other people's disputes anyway) and not had any idea what was happening - let alone what might have happened later.

[Cockneycarl]

What would've happened if the driver had let the girl on for free and she was eventually followed by one of the passengers and raped? Or the bus crashed and she was horribly injured and disfigured?
Would the driver still be seen as a monster?
Would it be his fault, would the family sue?
Would his superiors sack him and would there be a public outcry for that he's punished for letting her on instead of sticking to the companies guidelines?

It's like the film sliding doors, each decision in our lives really could have a negative or positive impact on complete opposite ends of the spectrum.

many many variables unfortunately. I just hope this guy spends the rest of his life uncomfortably behind bars and that this poor girl somehow can put this behind her and not let it take over her life which i know will be very hard.

[ojread2]

I hope he is not sacked. Why should he be? He hardly raped the girl, he may be told to issue a non payment of fare form but sacked? No way
If you think like that then every passenger who was on the bus should also be given a punishment of equally high meaning