Teen kicked off train on coldest night of the year

[Christian]

Teen kicked off train on coldest night of the year

A Deutsche Bahn conductor will be disciplined after she threw a 16-year-old girl off a train on the coldest night of the year. The incident is the latest in a string of controversial measures taken against children without proper tickets.



At 10 pm on Wednesday night, the girl identified as Jennifer found herself standing outside the closed Königs Wusterhausen station - where the temperature had dropped to -18 degrees Celsius, daily Bild reported on Friday.

The girl had been in Berlin visiting a friend, and assumed that the cost of her trip home to Groß Köris would equal that of her ticket into the city. But the train conductor informed the teenager that she had to pay an additional €2 to buy her ticket on board.

When Jennifer failed to produce the extra cash, the conductor forced her to disembark, refusing to speak with her mother on her mobile phone.

“This approach is totally unacceptable, we are very shocked,” a spokesperson for national rail provider Deutsche Bahn told the paper, adding that the woman has since admitted her mistake.

“There will be consequences,” the spokesperson added, explaining that all employees have been informed they should “on principle not throw children off the trains.”

The company said it plans to apologise to the girl’s family and has suggested meeting in person.

Train customer association Pro Bahn said it was disgusted by the incident.

“This can’t be,” leader Karl-Peter Naumann told the paper. “It’s about humanity and also the image of Deutsche Bahn.”

As a result of two similar incidents in 2008, the rail company instituted a new rule forbidding employees from forcing children from their trains.

In October of that year, a conductor forced a 12-year-old girl on her way to cello lessons to get off a train at dusk in a remote rural area because she forgot her ticket. She was forced to walk five kilometres with her instrument despite protests from adult passengers who offered to buy her ticket and complained that it was irresponsible to leave her alone so far away from home.

In November 2008, a 13-year-old was forced off a train in Wittstock for forgetting her train fare with no way to contact her family for help.

[The Local]

That's awful and ridiculous. Seriously. How can you throw a child/teen out of the train in the middle of the night somewhere in the nowhere with temperatures below 0°F. How heartless can you be, especially as she had the money for the normal fair, but missed to have the extra 2€ ($2.80).

I can't believe the conductor, a woman herself, could bring the girl in such a risk, by just throwing her out, at a lonely deserted place.

It's not the first time it happened


On a side note: the last seven times I used the train to drive home to my parents and back, my ticket didn't even got checked nor I've ever seen a conductor in the whole train. There is supposed to be one of them in each train, better be two.. especially if problems occur, like racists assaults I had to deal with on a train ride some months ago.

[pitcairnpete]

Fuck her, she knew the risks when she got on the train with no ticket. Its amazing, you get on a train, drive up prices for everyone else by not paying which people complain about, then when something is done about it, they fucking whinge.

This planet is turd.

[Christian]

She actually had the money for the ticket and wanted to pay. She just didn't knew, so she says, that she has to pay additional 2€, if she buys the ticket in the train and not before. I didn't knew that it is (only) 2€ either. If you want to buy your ticket in the train, you have to tell the conductor that you need one from where you got in to where you want to drive to, when the conductor is about to ask everyone for their tickets.

(I think I'll buy my tickets inside the train now more often, since I got controlled so rarely lately.)

Let it be noted, that it is pretty hard to buy a ticket on many outlying train stations here. Thee is mostly a manned a ticket desk or a working ticket automate missing, not to mention that it can be kinda complicated to get your ticket out of such an automate. I tried it twice but failed, knowing what ticket I need.

You just don't throw children out of a train into the nowhere, where they are lost after. That might be even unlawful. Will see what happens.

[psychoDiablo]

i would have kicked her out for not having proper change...but i wouldn't have kicked her out into negative degree weather. i wouldn't want to be kicked out into negative degree weather. the planet isn't turd. im sure someone could have come up with 2$, if i didn't pitch in for her. even if you don't believe in Karma, you should still believe in being nice.

[pitcairnpete]

PD this is the internet. If you want to be serious, then I suggest the UN is down the road.

[pitcairnpete]

I should also add that I can probably not comprehend how isolated the place is that this train was at. I can however say I get pissed off when I pay for tickets and it seems like the whole world does not around me and I just know that if I did not do it I would be the one caught.

[GoddessDivine]

get a car and this wouldn't have happened. Sucks for her but seriously that's what happens when you assume something. Never assume it will be the same price, always assume to be hijacked for your money by every company, business and restaurant. IT's all about the cash money in this world.

I could not kick someone off a train or bus because frankly, if I worked for a train asking for proof of tickets, I would probably be a slacker and only ask a few people to make it look like I am doing my job. $2.80 is nothing to throw someone off a train for no matter what the temperature. I suggest that ticket checker to get the stick out of his/her ass and chill out. I don't think being nice is important as much as just trying to be a decent human being. Just do the right thing.

[psychoDiablo]

only decent thing to do at this point, is to allow Pete on board, then throw him off the train!

[my.dragons.lady]

Chicago is equally heartless. Something like that wouldn't even be news here unless something bad happened or it was the child of someone with significant status.

[Brisa]

We don't even really have trains here.... How I wish I could ride in one once... before they're all gone.

[Jabedin]

If I was in the teens position I would have round house kicked my way up the chain of command on the train until I was in charge, then I would kick the conducter off the train.

[Nesame]

This is the type of shit that pisses me off. Although I don't have to deal with the train operators where I live, it's the same shit on buses. They think they have so much damn authority. These public transportation companies should really look at who the hell they hire. And all these people that has done this, they should be fired.

[Jabedin]

^Then who would drive the busses? :[ Please note you need a special license to drive a bus