Pregnant woman forced to sit on carriage floor
Pregnant Victoria Poskitt, 40, was forced to sit on a carriage floor in a packed train. / London Evening Standard
A pregnant commuter was forced to sit on a carriage floor in a packed train, London Evening Standard reported Monday.
Seeking for any seat in the train, Five-month pregnant Victoria Poskitt, 40, went to the ticket manager, but was turned down because she is not qualified for the “train policy.”
The company’s policy is two-fold: that the woman has to be no more than 20 weeks from her due date and that she travels with a weekly, monthly or annual season ticket.
Nobody in South West Trains service from Surbiton to Waterloo gave up the seat for her, either.
She said that even if the other passengers had not realized she was pregnant, “simple human decency should have prevailed.”
A spokeswoman for the South West Trains-Network Rail Alliance said, “We are sorry to hear that Poskitt felt unwell on one of our services.
“As on other forms of transport, our experience is that fellow passengers will often give up their seat for mums-to-be and other customers such as elderly people and we are sorry this did not happen.”
London Travel Watch, an independent, statutory watchdog for transport users in and around London, said operators should “show a bit of discretion” for pregnant women and people with mobility issues on crowded services.