A mum was left furious after her daughter was left alone at a train station late a night when her friend's dad never offered her a ride home.
The parent explained that her daughter had attended a two day event with the friend, which was a half hour train journey away from their local station, the Liverpool Echo reports.
After travelling back to the local station the pair had planned to catch a bus home due around midnight, but it never turned up.
As her daughter started worrying about how she was going to get home, the friend's dad arrived by car to pick up his daughter - without offering her a lift.
The mum did concede their home is in the opposite direction to her friend's but she still found it odd that he didn't offer to drive her daughter home, "leaving a young woman to stand alone at night". She took to Mumsnet's popular Am I Being Unreasonable [AIBU] forum to seek advice.
In a post titled "[AIBU] to think DD [dear daughter] should have been offered a lift home?" she penned: "My DD [dear daughter] (20) and her friend went to a two day event recently that is about a half hour train journey away from our local station.
"On the first night they got back to our station at 11.40pm and there is a bus due at midnight. Which didn't turn up. She tried a local taxi service but we're in the middle of a taxi shortage crisis and nothing was available. The last bus is 12.30am and thankfully this showed up at 12.35.
"I don't drive so couldn't collect her from the station. DD's friend got collected at 11.45 by her father and she left DD on her own at the station. Her friend lives 5 miles in one direction and we are 4 miles in the other so it is out of the way.
"The next night due to train delays they got back at 12.05 and DD was really upset that she might miss the last bus. It was late and turned up at 12.40am. We had tried to prebook a taxi but the company said they couldn't do that due to current demand.
"AIBU to think her friend/friend's father should have at least offered a lift instead of leaving a young woman to stand alone at night?"
The mum's post received hundreds of responses from fellow Mumsnet users, some who agreed with her and were on her side while others thought she was in the wrong.
One commented: "Yes he should have done, that's really s*** and it doesn't matter how old they are. I would never have left a friend of my DDs alone like that, and neither would DH [dear husband]. People are odd though."
Another disagreed and said: "So she had originally planned to get a bus at 12.00. The other parent turned up at 11.40 and would not have known that the first bus would not be coming at that point I assume? Nice if he did offer a lift, but I think the onus is on you and your daughter to plan how to get back.
"Bus sounds fine, and they were not heading for the last one (which is good and safe). Or alternatively pre-book a taxi. If you did want a lift from the other parent guaranteed I think you needed to agree this in advance."
A third agreed with the mum and simply said: "I don't understand this at all. YANBU [you are not being unreasonable]."
Another said: "He should have offered, and I would have done in that situation… but she’s also an adult. If you’re going to be at the station too late for a taxi you know full well is scarce or to know you’ll make the bus you proactively make other arrangements - like actually asking for a lift (did he turn her down or did she just passively wait for an offer?), booking a hotel at the event or whatever.Or leave early and get an earlier train.
"I think as a non driver, who’ll never have to reciprocate or go out of their way to ferry others about, you don’t really get to judge."
A fifth commented: "Yanbu [you are not being unreasonable]. I would never have left someone on their own at that time of night at the train station. Even if their bus wasn’t due yet so I didn’t know it wouldn’t turn up I would always offer a lift. I know it was the opposite direction but honestly how long would that have really taken at that time? I bet the roads would have been clear."
Another said: "There's no way I would have left a young woman alone to make her own way home at that hour. Driving 4 miles in the opposite direction is not like walking her home that distance for crying out loud."
But another asked: "If the friend's lift came before the bus (that didn't come) on the first night, how were they meant to know it didn't come?"
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