Outraged mum hits out at train passengers for not offering her young son a seat

15 February 2023, 12:31 | Updated: 15 February 2023, 12:40

A mother has hit out at London passengers after no one offered to stand up so her young son could take a seat.

An anonymous woman has criticised commuters on a train after they didn’t give up their seats for her son.

Taking to TikTok, the mum recorded a video showing her child, who appeared to be aged between eight and 12-years-old, on a Southern Rail train.

The boy can be seen on the floor in the aisle, with his back resting on one of the seats, while people around him go about their business.

• Listen on Global Player: Spencer & Vogue. Spencer Matthews and Vogue Williams let you know what they’re doing, thinking, and disagreeing on every week.

“All these people watching my baby sit on the floor in the priority seats area,” the woman wrote on the video, adding: “It's called human decency.”

Unsurprisingly, the clip stirred up a huge conversation, with people divided over whether you should give up your seat for a child.

One person commented: “I’m heavily pregnant and I’d watch a child sit on the floor too. My kids move for an elderly person, it’s called respect.”

Someone else wrote: “To be honest, I would be fuming if I got on a busy train after a long day at work and a small child was taking up a seat.”

“It is actually common courtesy and good manners for a child to give up their seat for an older person, well it was when I was a child,” another said.

While a fourth added: “Kids do not take priority seats. Disabled people, pregnant women, the elderly, or babies in arms.”

A fifth responded: “Comments have restored my faith in humanity! I've NEVER understood why adults give up their seats for children.”

According to Southern Railway’s website, passengers can apply for a priority seat card if they can’t stand up safely on the train.

This includes the elderly, disabled, pregnant or those travelling with a child under the age of three.

Read more:

• Return train tickets 'to be scrapped' in railway shake-up
• Exhausted mum sends apologetic note to neighbours ahead of sleep training her baby