Bahn CEO intervenes after railway gives teen wine as redress
Deutsche Bahn CEO Rüdiger Grube has personally intervened after a 16-year-old girl thrown off a train on one of the coldest nights of the year was compensated by the company with a bottle of wine.
One day after the gift was given to the girl’s family, Grube called them to promise “something better” for their troubles, news magazine Focus reported.
Two weeks ago, the girl was forced to disembark a train at a closed station late at night when the temperature had dropped to -18 degrees Celsius because she was short on ticket fare.
The girl, identified as Jennifer, had been in Berlin visiting a friend, and assumed that the cost of her trip home to Groß Köris would equal that of her ticket into the city. But the train conductor informed the teenager that she had to pay an additional €2 to buy her ticket on board.
When Jennifer failed to produce the extra cash, the conductor forced her to disembark, refusing to speak with her mother on her mobile phone.
The incident was the latest in a string of controversial measures taken against children without proper tickets, but happened despite new measures instituted by the rail company that forbid employees from forcing children from their trains.
While the company called Jennifer’s case “totally unacceptable” and promised to remedy the situation, her family apparently received only a bottle of wine and a discount Schönes Wochenende weekend ticket, the magazine said.
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One day after the gift was given to the girl’s family, Grube called them to promise “something better” for their troubles, news magazine Focus reported.
Two weeks ago, the girl was forced to disembark a train at a closed station late at night when the temperature had dropped to -18 degrees Celsius because she was short on ticket fare.
The girl, identified as Jennifer, had been in Berlin visiting a friend, and assumed that the cost of her trip home to Groß Köris would equal that of her ticket into the city. But the train conductor informed the teenager that she had to pay an additional €2 to buy her ticket on board.
When Jennifer failed to produce the extra cash, the conductor forced her to disembark, refusing to speak with her mother on her mobile phone.
The incident was the latest in a string of controversial measures taken against children without proper tickets, but happened despite new measures instituted by the rail company that forbid employees from forcing children from their trains.
While the company called Jennifer’s case “totally unacceptable” and promised to remedy the situation, her family apparently received only a bottle of wine and a discount Schönes Wochenende weekend ticket, the magazine said.
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