The kindness of strangers: on an emptied train carriage, a man rubbed his hand on my thigh – then another passenger intervened

5 hours ago 8

It was already dark when I boarded the train home. I was 19 and making the half-hour journey back from drama school one evening, travelling on my own.

At first, I was completely alone in the carriage – until an older man hopped on. He could have had any seat on the train but chose the one next to me. I was in the window seat and he slumped uncomfortably close to me in the aisle seat, blocking my exit. Completely focused on me, he told me he loved my hair, admired my clothes, asked me where I was from and then started to rub his hand up and down my thigh. Scared, I tried to stand up, but he pushed his hand down hard on my leg to stop me, his other hand moving to my shoulder. As absolute panic began to wash over me, I saw a young man walking down the aisle.

That young man plonked himself opposite me and cheerfully said: “Hey, Mandy, how are you? I haven’t seen you in forever – how’s uni?”

My name is Alison, not Mandy, and I attended drama school, not university. Just as I was thinking there was a second lunatic on the train, I registered that the young man was smiling and nodding encouragingly as he spoke. Then the lightbulb went off. I realised what he was doing – throwing me a life raft. I stammered a reply and we had a ludicrous, made-up conversation about university.

As the conversation continued, the hand was withdrawn from my leg and I felt the man next to me move away a little. Eventually, he got up and walked to the other end of the carriage, leaving me to chat with my pretend schoolmate. As that happened, the train pulled up at my station. Seizing the opportunity, I leapt up and ran off the train, without stopping to thank that young man.

I have a vivid memory of watching the train pull away from the platform, with only the two men on it – the one who had assaulted me, and the one who rescued me. I waved and mouthed “Thank you!” but I don’t think the young man saw me.

In this day and age, I would have pressed the emergency button for help. But this was many decades ago; a different time for women. That young man rescued me from an impossible situation and did so in such a subtle, clever way. I hope he knew how grateful I was.

Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse is available from the following organisations. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html