Paying it Backward - Raped after left stranded by bus driver

Recently a member of ATS made a thread called, Paid it forward today.

This is where the member goes on to talk about "paying it forward" at the bus stop. Essentially a young girl at the train station was having trouble with her debit card, and the ATS member covered the £6 fare.

Fast forward a week or so later and an article comes up in the daily mail:

'Why did none of the other passengers just give her 20p?' Policeman reveals rape victim begged for EIGHT minutes before being thrown off bus for not having the full fare

Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk... ssengers-gave-money.html#ixzz1x9aw3x7G

Some people don't pay it forward...

She was stranded at 3am on one of the coldest nights of the year.
The 22-year-old law student begged a bus driver to let her on board but he refused because she was just 20p short of the £5 fare for her journey home.
None of his dozens of passengers offered to help – leaving her at the mercy of a rapist in a sickening example of callous disregard for others.


Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk... ssengers-gave-money.html#ixzz1x9b60VXN

So a woman nearly had almost her entire fare but the bus driver didn't see it as enough. I know there are some people out there that purposely try to manipulate free rides and handouts, but in this case the student was just short of a bit of change.

No one saw the need to "pay it forward." And had they have, perhaps her attacker might not have been caught. But in any case, I imagine the people on the bus who said, did nothing while she asked for a few pence to get home on a cold night... might just realize they paid it backward.

Sometimes people get numb to telling hobos no so this could have been an assumption and everyone just went business as usual. It sucks, but # happens and I bet she's got money next time she's out late on her own needing a ride. Sad story, but I may have blown by her as well. Sucks.

reply to post by Poopooplatter


Even hobos need money sometimes.

=/

The only people I refuse to give money to are those kids that dump dirty water on your car windshield, wipe it off and expect something in return.

Ask politely or beat it....

To be fair I don't think the fellow passengers knew she would be raped. It's not like he was standing at the door rubbing his hands together.

People need to be more empathetic, but even I tell bums that I don't have any change, so...

reply to post by MeesterB


Still one of the coldest nights of the year and she was a few pence off. Equal to about two quarters...

No one knew she was going to get raped, but on the other hand, no one knew how she'd get home either. In my family the tree has a long line of old school farmers that would take people in, give them a meal, and send them on their way with whatever they needed. Just not the same kind of community out in most places today...

All of the people on the bus know who they are. I'm sure they remember the girl and I'm sure they know that between them all, they could've come up with what equals to 50c. They have to live with themselves.

True, no one knew she was going to be raped later on, but.......50c? Did she really look like a bum? Personally, I'll be more willing to give a female money when she looks like she needs it, homeless or not, than a male.

Poor thing.

And what if... the 20p was paid for that womans fare... and the rapist raped and then murdered someone or something else? Life does what it does. Just because things seem so evil does not mean they are. It might be a good thing that woman was passed on 20p then was raped.

Like you say the rapist may not have been caught if the woman was not raped. What if the rapist went on to rape and murder 100 someones or somethings else.

So maybe the question is, 'How much is 20p really worth?'

You never know what someone's going through..

This reminds me of the old Twilight Zone episode where a very wealthy man was driving through a neighborhood, when a "bum" dripping in blood comes pounding on his car for help.... he locked his doors and kept on driving....

A few weeks later, he was the one getting mugged and beaten in an alley, and when he ran to another driver for help; what do you think happened?

reply to post by boncho


This really shows you what is wrong with society today. It's not just the bus driver at fault here, although on the other side of the coin the driver was probably just thinking of his own income and job, not an excuse I know, but the way it is taught. But for the people on that bus, they should have at least stepped up, I mean it's not like it was a grand she was asking for. Beside the point of being left stranded and not knowing what would happen after is not really the point though, the fact that as a species we have become this "as long as I'm ok I don't care" is just enough to make want to get off the ride.

I have seen the good and the bad though, recently we had a local single mum with five kids whose house burned down. All were ok, but they lost everything. The way the community pulled together to help out her with clothes and furniture sometimes does restore your faith it is not all lost in the world.

Originally posted by emberscott
And what if... the 20p was paid for that womans fare... and the rapist raped and then murdered someone or something else? Life does what it does. Just because things seem so evil does not mean they are. It might be a good thing that woman was passed on 20p then was raped.

Like you say the rapist may not have been caught if the woman was not raped. What if the rapist went on to rape and murder 100 someones or somethings else.

So maybe the question is, 'How much is 20p really worth?'

No, your point of view is fair. In the grand scheme of things, this may be the quickest way the person would be caught. On the other hand, he may have been caught for some other crime had she not been there that night.

In any case, it's one of those things where the people on the bus will think about whether or not they made the right decision, and in the case of the woman, to always make sure she has a secure way home.

I actually found this story to be interesting though, because an ATS member just recently gave a woman a 30 times the amount just to get her home because she was stranded. And I thought that was worth a discussion..

After Daniel Morcombe was kidnapped murdered Australia Adopted a no child left behind policy meaning children cannot be refused transport on the bus if they do not have the correct fare. Sure some do take advantage of it but remember these are children might not be your niece or nephew but still kids that need protection.
The bus driver in my opinion is not in touch with their humanity. What decent person would leave even a college aged youth or elderly for that matter stranded over 20p?

reply to post by boncho
Personally, I don't think 'Paying It Backward' is an accurate analogy.

If the details were switched around a bit, it could be accurate.

For example: Bus driver doesn't allow '[color=D4B670]Dirty Donny' to get on the bus. Three minutes later, after the bus has left, a young woman comes walking past. [color=D4B670]Dirty Donny, who is still extremely angry at the bus driver, rapes and tortures the woman for hours. [color=D4B670]Dirty Donny just paid it backwards.






What is 20p? Is that somewhat equivalent to the pennies/cents, that we use over here on the west side of the big pond?

Originally posted by emberscott
And what if... the 20p was paid for that womans fare... and the rapist raped and then murdered someone or something else? Life does what it does. Just because things seem so evil does not mean they are. It might be a good thing that woman was passed on 20p then was raped.

Like you say the rapist may not have been caught if the woman was not raped. What if the rapist went on to rape and murder 100 someones or somethings else.

So maybe the question is, 'How much is 20p really worth?'

So true, the word Evil is used when the mind stops trying to understand. As unfortunate as it was, it happened and therefore was meant to happen. But Why? Could it have been so that it could be brought up in discussions, be it at the dinner table of on a public forum, to teach us something? And could that something be that we as a Human race have become stingy and careless of the less fortunate or of those in need? Or is it to remind us that in this world defecation occurs so don't worry about it, its not your concern?

I think it goes deeper into who we are as people and as a People by what we take from it and how we progress in our future lives.

I sympathise with the young women and hope she can overcome such a terrible experience. For the record, if it were me on that bus I would have given her the money because I like to help people out when they are in need. Considering it was late at night and people would have been eager to get home quickly, I am surprised nobody helped her out, even if the reason was to spare them 8 minutes of watching the bus driver and potential passenger argue.

On the other hand however, the woman should have ensured she had the right amount of money before getting on the bus and using a service she knew she was required to pay for. Let's not forget that the main villain in this story is the rapist, not the bus driver or the passengers who had no idea about the fate that awaited her as a result of not having the correct money. People need to take responsibility for their own actions and cannot blame the lack of good will from others when they encounter misfortune from their own mistakes.

Originally posted by BrokenCircles
reply to post by boncho
[
What is 20p? Is that somewhat equivalent to the pennies/cents, that we use over here on the west side of the big pond?

100 pence/pennies is 1 Pound.
What is our pound compared to your dollar?

Oh Edit: Tradgic story, If I had the 20p I woulda gave it her.

Made me feel physicaly sick reading that after what happened the other day.

Hopefully it will make some people think next time someone needs just a little help. Don't get me wrong, i'm not syaing pay for everyones ride through life. If i think someone is deliberately trying to dodge a fare that we all have to pay, then i'm not going to just pay out. However if there is an obvious difficulty that someone can't help, whats a couple of pence or pounds really if you can afford it?

Like i said, i like to think that if my yong daughters were ever stuck, some kind stranger would help them out too.

I was told once that here in the UK, a bus driver cannot just leave a kid on the roadside if they haven't got a ticket, like if they forget thier bus pass of something like that. Not sure if thats the case anymore, but it would be nice to know that anyone would get a little helping hand if needed.

CX.

reply to post by boncho


basically - very little in the victims actions makes sense

appologies for being harsh - but i am not using 20/20 hindsight - just common sense

faced with a 20p defecit - you get on the dammed bus and ask for a ticket to the furthest stop that costs less than £4.80

i would expect a £5.00 single bus ticket in nottingham to be the fare for a journey of approxamatly 15km

and the most expensive teicket that could be purchased for £4.80 or less woud put her within 2~3 km of her intended stop

so - you get on the bus - and either accept you are going to have to walk the last leg - or if like this woman - you have contact with someone prepared to turn out on your behalf - you get them to pick you up at the point where your ticket got you

either way - you have both removed yourself from the most dangerous part of town [ city centre - at the time that all pubs and nightclubs have just closed ] and minimized your exposere time to other hazards

however i will be blunt - and note that the above strategy requires common sense - and the victim was a university student , so ............

there was a lot of prejudice and assumption behind this I would assume...

assuming she would be fine if she was forced off the bus,

the bus driver probably assumed he could lose his job if he helped this girl
the passengers probably assumed she was poor or troubled and not worth the trouble of helping....

people freakin suck..

At 3am on a freezing night you stick your hand in your pocket for a paltry 20p no matter who someone is.
Even local taxi drivers have let me get home safely even if I had a couple of quid short.

The bus driver was an idiot, but then there's been a few of them about in recent years. Some have even gone so far as to leave school kids stranded miles from home.