A heavily pregnant woman was left upset and frustrated by fellow passengers on a two-hour commuter train recently when nobody offered her their seat.
The woman, named only as Lauren, found herself on a rush hour train, that because of an ongoing Southern Rail strike the train was even busier than usual.
Her journey is meant to take around 40 minutes, from Crawley to London, but because of the chaos took over two hours in total and meant Lauren had to board two spate trains, getting on at East Croydon.
She told the Evening Standard: 'I got on a Thameslink train first. That was packed. People don't like to make eye contact. Everyone just looks down.'
The 31-year-old mum to be, who works in TV production, then said after she had to change at Croydon, the second part of her journey was even worse than the first. She described it as 'knackering' and said the carriage was 'rammed'. 'People don't care - or don't look,' she added.
Lauren then decided to take matters into her own hands and ask for a seat. She explains that her request was met with silence and that nobody looked up. Finally, she said, a fellow passenger and 'gent' noticed her and offered up his seat, but this was now six minutes before she had to get off.
London transport services do offer badges to pregnant women but Lauren said, 'I shouldn't need a badge. I'm five foot three and I have a massive bump sticking out.
'Obviously everyone is pushing and shoving. I appreciate everyone's trying to get to work - I've been commuting for years. But just a bit of consideration would be nice.'
Lauren told MailOnline that she had been shocked by the backlash and by strangers' comments: 'One guy said I should be at home and stop moaning,' she said.
'Sorry but I like to earn my living thank you.'
What do you think of Lauren's experience? Should people automatically give up their seat for pregnant women? Let us know on Facebook!
