If you know the Old Street – Great Northern Line platform it’s very desolate and eerie. I’m in my way to work it’s 08:30 waiting for the next train in 15 minutes alone on the platform.

This guy walks past towards me, I see him in my peripheral and notice he walks past the three empty benches, I think he better not come sit next to me, which he does, stinking of alcohol.

This is the point I realise where you need to crush the confidence of a man encroaching on the personal space of a woman alone on a platform. I asked him ‘why are you sitting next to me when there’s three empty benches? Are you trying to be a creep?’ He was sat really close to me.

He looked disappointed that I wasn’t scared of him and if my bark would match my bite as I told him to get f*ckt mate and laughed him off.

When the train arrived he walked behind me as if to intimidate me and I laugh at him.

The audacity of this guy, what if I was too scared to tell him to please give me some space as yes making me feel uncomfortable?

Moments before I saw a TFL poster about how to intervine with sexual harassment on the tube by asking a question, to divert the situation. Sure try it, I’m quite a brazen gal and when I’ve seen this behaviour happen to other people I’ve called it out for what it is.

by AphinTwin

25 comments

  1. Proud of you. I hate it when this happens to me but I just walk away.

  3. Report this to BTP right away if he was actively trying to intimidate or harrass you, with all the time/platform information you gave above.

  5. OP you handled it very well. Ignore any commenters to the contrary. Plenty of those on reddit. Admiration and respect for the way you engaged.

  6. you are a god(dess) amongst (wo)men, my ptsd could never

  8. I’m sure this will get downvoted, but are you sure he wasn’t just getting on at the point that madness sense to him? I always get on at the point that’s closest to the exit I want to get off at.
    The reason this could be the case as from what you’ve said here he didn’t say or do anything to you?

  9. What did he say to you?

    I feel this is important Information

  10. Would love to have the CCTV and see what happened objectively. It sounds like you might have decided to kick off as soon as you saw him…

    > I see him in my peripheral and notice he walks past the three empty benches, I think he better not come sit next to me

  13. Good on you, sadly I don’t think there are many like you and this behaviour gets away all too often. As a male I see this happen all too often and usually bite my lip unless it is obvious that is making someone uncomfortable or threatening.

  14. There’s a depressing, but unsurprising, number of dickheads on this thread

  16. “He looked disappointed that I wasn’t scared of him” oh give over you’ve written this like a 14 year old girls English homework

  17. I wish I was like you, OP. I’d be thinking it, but wouldn’t be able to summon the ability to say it.

  18. A lot of these threads i can see the grey area, as a guy I think benefit of the doubt should often be given even if you take defensive action for yourself, but nah this guy seemed like a dick and creep. You did the right thing.

  19. Good on you. I had a nasty man do some nasty stuff while loooking at me on the DC metro when I was like 19 and I was in shock. I hate how this society is.

  20. Creeps be creepin’

    Well done for claiming your personal space

  21. Honestly I’ve found your method works best when people are being creepy like that.

    Creepy dude kept staring at women on the train once so I step of the timer on my phone and kept intense eye contact with him back until he moved.

    Turns out he could only last about 20 seconds of his own medicine

  22. So someone sat next to you on a bench and you over reacted. Even with only your account of the situation it still comes across as you overreacted.

  23. I think we’re missing some circumstances here…..

    There’s a lot of talk about “well what if someone took the urinal next to you instead of free ones” and it raises to me the question why these are even equivalent to some of you? Did I miss a line where she was pissing through the bench and he came up to her? Was he pissing and coming up to her? Why do genitals even get mentioned when all thst happened here by their own explanation is someone sat next to them at 8:30am (not exactly a time known for how quiet it is).

  24. Every bloke on here defending/excusing/minimising the actions of this pisshead is 100% a wrongun and the type of bloke who themselves goes and sits next to the only women on an otherwise empty top deck of the bus.

  25. Fucking dick heads mate. Good on you for calling him out.

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