Published: 8 Nov 08 13:05 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20081108-15397.html
Deutsche Bahn has suspended a conductor who forced a 13-year-old girl to get off a train miles away from home because she forgot her ticket. It's the second such incident in three weeks.
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The incident took place on Wednesday on a regional train in the eastern state of Brandenburg when the girl was on her way home from school. The conductor forced the 13-year-old student to disembark in the town of Wittstock, 42 kilometres away from Neuruppin where the girl lives.
The man reportedly refused to buy the girl's excuse that she had forgotten her wallet and student ticket at home. Speaking to the Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung, the girl's mother said the conductor remained unmoved even after her daughter told him tearfully that she didn't have money or a mobile phone to make a call home and that she didn't know anyone in Wittstock. The conductor also allegedly refused to allow the girl to use his mobile phone to make a call to her mother.
The girl finally managed to get home after finding a helpful cab driver in Wittstock who agreed to drive her to Neuruppin.
Deutsche Bahn has apologized to the girl's parents and suspended the conductor from his duties.
"The conductor clearly didn't act properly. There are clear rules that minors can't be thrown off trains," a Deutsche Bahn spokesman said on Friday.
It's the second such incident in Germany in three weeks. In October, 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. That happened 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.
The train passenger association Pro Bahn said at the time they had received several complaints from people who had experienced similar things.
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