Girl, 13, kicked off train for 'faulty' bank card
TT/The Local/og - [email protected]
Published: 25 Feb, 2014 CET.
Updated: Tue 25 Feb 2014 09:02 CET
A teenage girl was booted off a train in eastern Sweden and into a snow storm after her bank card didn't work on the ticket collector's hand-held machine.
"It's not a bloody free ride," the ticket collector told the girl, reported the Sundsvall Tidning newspaper (ST). The conductor then gave the girl three options: to pay cash, pay a fine of 400 kronor ($62), or get off the train. The girl, whose youth bank card had been recently topped up by her mother, had no choice but to get off the train in Timrå, some 40 kilometres from her final destination. She was lost and not dressed adequately for the winter weather, ST reported. "She was really upset and sat there crying," the girl's mother, Annette Berlin, told the paper. "Her dad had to jump in the car and drive from Härnösand to collect her. I went crazy, I was so nervous for her." The regional train operator Norrtåg has since apologized for the incident, which occurred on Friday. A spokeswoman said the conductor's actions were "completely against company policy" and that the company has been in contact with the family to compensate them. The company's policy states that young people should never be kicked off trains, and that people with bank cards that aren't working should be given an invoice instead.
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"It's not a bloody free ride," the ticket collector told the girl, reported the Sundsvall Tidning newspaper (ST).
The conductor then gave the girl three options: to pay cash, pay a fine of 400 kronor ($62), or get off the train.
The girl, whose youth bank card had been recently topped up by her mother, had no choice but to get off the train in Timrå, some 40 kilometres from her final destination. She was lost and not dressed adequately for the winter weather, ST reported.
"She was really upset and sat there crying," the girl's mother, Annette Berlin, told the paper. "Her dad had to jump in the car and drive from Härnösand to collect her. I went crazy, I was so nervous for her."
The regional train operator Norrtåg has since apologized for the incident, which occurred on Friday.
A spokeswoman said the conductor's actions were "completely against company policy" and that the company has been in contact with the family to compensate them. The company's policy states that young people should never be kicked off trains, and that people with bank cards that aren't working should be given an invoice instead.
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