There’s an age old debate between people who think it’s cool to put their feet up on the train/bus seats and those who don’t, and it normally ends in a massive argument as both sides feel like they’re inherently right about their opinions.
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Personally, I don’t think it’s that big a deal to put your feet up and do it fairly regularly, but I have been shouted at by enough angry old men over my lifetime to know that it’s a major issue for some people. The 70-year-old man from Blackburn in this story is definitely one of those people.
The pensioner was on the train from Blackburn to Manchester when he encountered three unsupervised children who were aged between 8 and 11. They were acting cocky and lounging around with their feet on the seats, which the pensioner found totally offensive and so asked the kids to take them down.
Being bratty little kids confronted by some old crusty dude, they obviously refused and talked shit back to the old guy, and he responded by grabbing one of them and putting him in an armbar. Ouch:
Rough. One witness said that the pensioner was acting like a US cop. A woman intervened and told the old man to stop and then looked after the kids until they arrived at the next train station in Bolton, where they were escorted off the train by Northern Rail staff. They’re now ‘investigating’ the incident.
I suppose however you view this is going to be predetermined by where you stand on the issue of feet on the seats on public transport. Sure, it sounds like these kids were being dickheads and probably needed to be taught a lesson, but I think it’s out of order for this old man to put them in an armlock on the train. What gives him the right to do that and go around beating up little kids, regardless of how they’re acting?
Having said that though, they’ll probably think twice about talking back to their elders again. Not sure if it’s enough to keep them from putting their feet up on the seats though – that kinda behaviour never stops.
For more badass old men, here’s one fighting some crackheads at McDonald’s and kicking their asses. Inspirational.
