Sarah Everard

[geek_kitten]

Well exactly. Would a bus driver really stop if someone apparently being arrested tried to flag them down?

Even after all this my instinct would be to get in the car and do what any apparent police officer told me. They can be absolute cunts to anyone who doesn't.

A mate of mine used to drive buses. They're told not to get out of their cab for any reason and they're even told not challenge people who don't pay the right fare (obviously some do but it wasn't company policy to do so with that firm).

So in short, the bus advice is utterly useless. I hope the driver unions come out and shoot it down in flames.

I totally understand the risk to bus drivers and support them keeping safe and not challenging people. I understood though that they had a method of alerting their controller about different levels of issues occuring if needed.

They do. Generally they tell the driver to stay in their cab and ask if they need police support. I can't imagine that a driver would think a random woman trying to wave them down was an issue that needed reporting or police support.

[Marth]

Well exactly. Would a bus driver really stop if someone apparently being arrested tried to flag them down?

Even after all this my instinct would be to get in the car and do what any apparent police officer told me. They can be absolute cunts to anyone who doesn't.

A mate of mine used to drive buses. They're told not to get out of their cab for any reason and they're even told not challenge people who don't pay the right fare (obviously some do but it wasn't company policy to do so with that firm).

So in short, the bus advice is utterly useless. I hope the driver unions come out and shoot it down in flames.

I totally understand the risk to bus drivers and support them keeping safe and not challenging people. I understood though that they had a method of alerting their controller about different levels of issues occuring if needed.

They do. Generally they tell the driver to stay in their cab and ask if they need police support. I can't imagine that a driver would think a random woman trying to wave them down was an issue that needed reporting or police support.

No I agree. I was more commenting thinking of when my son and friend got badly attacked on the downstairs of the bus. The aggressor actually started punching my son in the face just as my son tapped in at the front. Doors shut. Bus moved off.

[geek_kitten]

Bloody hell.

[Edith Bacon]

Also, in today's 'you absolutely fucking what' takes: this :

Speaking on BBC Radio, Conservative Mr Allott said women should be aware this was not an indictable offence - one considered serious enough to warrant a prison sentence or crown court hearing.

"So women, first of all, need to be streetwise about when they can be arrested and when they can't be arrested. She should never have been arrested and submitted to that," he said.

"Perhaps women need to consider in terms of the legal process, to just learn a bit about that legal process".

So, if we are getting ‘arrested’ for something we think isn’t an arrestable offence, we are already in a precarious position. Are we supposed to believe that if we quote the actual law at our attacker he will back right off? Is that what is being suggested here?

[Marth]

It's so stupid. I know that the police can be very heavy handed and completely unwilling to discuss when they want you to do something or go somewhere etc.

[Arrietty]

Not to mention the fact that the police themselves didn’t understand what did or didn’t contravene Covid legislation, let alone the average person in the street!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-d ... e-55560814

[Edith Bacon]

Rape alarm? Check.
Pepper spray? Check.
Law degree? Shit…

Men just need to cut this fucking bullshit out right now.

[Little My]

A bus driver once radioed in for police when a man got on the bus (to bother teenage me) and his mates followed behind in their car. I don't think he actually cared what happened to me, because he probably assumed I knew them. He was more worried they were trying to rob the bus, I assume.

So should police officers just not be allowed to travel individually while on duty?

[Marth]

This murderer wasn't on duty though. I read today that off duty police have a duty to intervene if they see crime etc, or something like that. A bit like an off duty nurse might attend to a person having a heart attack in the street etc

[Little My]

Right. But they could call for back-up instead.

None of this is ideal, obviously. But it makes me feel sick that the onus is put on the lone female to figure out what the right (and legal) thing to do is.

[Edith Bacon]

Allott has apparently retracted his comments but not before we all saw what he really thinks.

[Marth]

Anyone posting about this on Facebook had all their male friends liking or commenting?

No? Thought not.

[Luna]

Looking back, I could have been a Sarah.
Way back in 1986 I took a job in the centre of Athens as a dance teacher. I went with another girl who I didn’t know and we shared an apartment in a slightly grotty area. We had no facilities in the flat whatsoever and telephone calls home used to be done at this place called the OTE. You would queue up to use a booth and pay at the desk afterwards.
One evening I went there by myself and was followed the whole way there. As I stood in the queue I could see this shitty bloke pacing up and down outside peering in the window at me. Naturally I scared the life out of my bf by crying on the phone that someone was waiting outside to get me.
After I paid for the call, I told a guy at the desk who could speak English what had happened and that I had to get away from this man who was waiting for me. He said he was finishing his shift so he’d give me a lift home. I was so desperate to get away from creepy bloke that I accepted his offer. As I sat in the car I had this realisation I was in a foreign country, in a strangers car at night and could be driven off to god knows where.
Happily he wasn’t dodgy but my whole experience in Athens was spent avoiding creepy men. We laughed a lot of it off at the time but that one experience really rattled me.

[Ella77]

Anyone posting about this on Facebook had all their male friends liking or commenting?

No? Thought not.

Every fucking time, isn’t it?

[kiwi]

My husband just went fully mental at the statements made today and had a bit of a rant about living in a patriarchal society and how disgusting men in general are. I do like him sometimes.

That police dickhead might just as well have said what he meant, she was asking for it.

[Pippedydeadeye]

Literally everyone I know is talking about this, and thinks the same. The police are really not getting it.

[Lily]

Yes, I've had male friends commenting on stuff I've put up.

[Lily]

Looking back, I could have been a Sarah.
Way back in 1986 I took a job in the centre of Athens as a dance teacher. I went with another girl who I didn’t know and we shared an apartment in a slightly grotty area. We had no facilities in the flat whatsoever and telephone calls home used to be done at this place called the OTE. You would queue up to use a booth and pay at the desk afterwards.
One evening I went there by myself and was followed the whole way there. As I stood in the queue I could see this shitty bloke pacing up and down outside peering in the window at me. Naturally I scared the life out of my bf by crying on the phone that someone was waiting outside to get me.
After I paid for the call, I told a guy at the desk who could speak English what had happened and that I had to get away from this man who was waiting for me. He said he was finishing his shift so he’d give me a lift home. I was so desperate to get away from creepy bloke that I accepted his offer. As I sat in the car I had this realisation I was in a foreign country, in a strangers car at night and could be driven off to god knows where.
Happily he wasn’t dodgy but my whole experience in Athens was spent avoiding creepy men. We laughed a lot of it off at the time but that one experience really rattled me.

We've all done it, we've all had faith in someone. Most of the time you'll be absolutely fine. But that's not all the time.

[Ruby]

I've been stopped twice by single policemen when I was on my own. Both for driving "offences" than turned out to be nothing. One made me pull over and then wanted me to get in the back of his car whilst he ran my documents. That's standard but I was really uncomfortable about it and, fortunately, Noah was asleep in the back of my car so he stopped pushing it. Both times I had done nothing wrong, but the policemen were officious power-flexing pricks.

Anyway. From experience, not every policeman is a rapist but a good chunk of them enjoy making single women uncomfortable.

[Pippedydeadeye]

Yes, Ruby. They’re mostly all pricks, but fewer of them are murderers. I think anyone who wants to be police shouldn’t be allowed to be. Same as being prime minister.

I’m furious still, and never plan not to be now.