BestWestern
Established Member
- Joined
- 6 Feb 2011
- Messages
- 6,736
My point is that whose "fault" it is doesn't matter that much.
Nobody appears to have been grossly negligent, it's just an unfortunate combination of otherwise harmless circumstances.
The issue for some of us is that the child's mother does appear to think it matters whose fault it was, and unfortunately is so blind to the possibility it may have been at least partly her own fault that she felt it appropriate to contact a national newspaper - and one well known for hysterically exaggerating the truth - in order to slander the railway and its staff. She makes numerous allegations against the Guard, the catering steward and the train itself, some of which are highly likely to be false (door defective) and some of which are plainly nonsense (Conductor 'refused to go back'). I realise she may not have known that the train could not 'reverse', but would suggest that had she waited for the train operator to look into things she might have found this out. She helpfully poses for a photo sporting the standard-issue 'gormless innocence' face as if that cements her place as one of society's victims, all the while failing to grasp the irony of preaching about how concerned she was for her daughter. Even a good number of the Fail readers managed to see what was wrong with her bleating nonsense. Why is it acceptable for her to do that? Even if the staff on board were as hapless as she alleges, that does not equal the story she appears to have told, and would have been far better dealt with by corresponding properly with Arriva and allowing their procedures to do their job. The crew may have acted inappropriately, and if they did I would hope it will be dealt with. However, in light of the generally poor and reactionary nature of what has been written, it's impossible to take any sort of educated view on that unless proper facts are provided.
I have no sympathy for people whose first reaction is to offload all responsibility for something onto somebody else, and even less so when their next priority is to go shouting their dubious story about. How can Arriva now be expected to conduct a proper and impartial investigation in the light of national media attention? The sad reality is that this woman will probably receive the grovelling apology and thick wad of compensation/travel vouchers that she was doubtless hoping for, rather than a simple "Sorry for our part, but you are also responsible" that anybody with any guts might feel was more appropriate.
So please forgive those posters here who work on the railway and may seem a tad unsympathetic, but strangely we tend to get a little irked by the ever increasing chunk of society who seem to think it is our job not only to transport them but also to take personal responsibility for their actions, their absentmindedness and now it seems also their children.
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