At what age is it ok for a child to travel alone by train?

I do feel children are over protected now - as I was.
I wasn’t allowed to go anywhere alone.
When my children were born, I encouraged their independence. At 8 my son travelled by bus across the city to get to and from school. Yes it was 40 years ago but it was just as dangerous as it is today. Train the child well and don’t frighten them.
As for those who mollycoddle their children, well it’s not doing the child any good by breaking their confidence.
Remember children used to leave school at 12 or 13 and worked. A child of 13 is not a baby.
Training the child is good parenting and imperative for their ongoing mental health.

I let my son travel on the London Tube for the first time aged 13. It was in daytime, not a weekend, with instructions for his safety such as don’t talk to anyone and if you need help, find a Tube member of staff at a station.

He was visiting my brother across London, got there safely but my heart was beating loud as he set off from home.

On another note, my first school days were in leafy Surrey - and from Day 2 I walked myself to and from school, aged 5. When my sister started when I was 7, I walked her home!

As kids we used to go everywhere by train and tube on our own, different times though. My sister and I travelled from London to Hull at the ages of 3 and 4 on our own, our change of trains at Doncaster was supervised by the guard and we were met at Paragon Station by our aunts. Can't imagine such a thing happening now though.

When my daughter was 13 I let her 'lead' the way in the airports to get to our destination, I refused to do anything but follow,
she managed. At 16 she took her first flight alone to 'Nana's
in England. Since then she found a job which enabled her
to travel the world, she never looked back.

I was ten years old when I first travelled by train alone .
It was a two hour journey from the midlands to London to visit my newly married aunt.My mother and father were at work so could not take the time off.
I would not let any ten year old child of mine, 21c, now do what I was allowed to do all those years ago.

Life is so different now than when I was a child, so I would worry now about opportunitists picking on kids for money, phones, etc.
I worried about my friends grandkids visiting them on their fancy bikes cos they had to pass a railway station where the local brats hang out drinking, etc just in case they knocked the kids off their bikes and took them from them.
Times have changed, it's so sad that we can't trust anyone or feel safe anymore.

My brother went to school by train from age 11. He's still with us!

My DGS has flown from one of the Spanis islands to London, on his own, since he was 13, and it included a change of flight.

My son started using the train by himself at the age of 11 because that is how he got to school. Other than that, it depended on a number of things, not least how busy it was likely to be and what time of day. I wouldn't have let my boy travel at night by himself (even at 21 I don't like it!) or after a football match or at times when there aren't likely to be a number of people around. I would be considering if the station he was changing at was a busy or lonely station. Finally, I would be looking at how much common sense my son had and discussing with him what to do if things go awry. At 13, my son would have been perfectly able to travel alone. We were also able to keep contact with him by tracking him on his phone to see where he was and if he was en route and were always at the end of the phone.
At 16, my 16 year old step-daughter travelled up from Cornwall to see us. At one of the changes she got on the wrong train. She rang us feeling terrified. We just got her to find the guard and he saw that she got off at the next station, whereupon the station guard helped her get on the right train back to her connecting station. At that station, the guard put her on the right train. Although she was upset at the time, it showed her that in the event of something going wrong, she would be able to find a solution. We were able to point out that, at the very worst, we could have driven down to collect her.

I feel that a 13 year old who is confident that he can manage the journey should be allowed to do so.

British rail does not allow children under 12 to travel unaccompanied by an adult www.logitravel.co.uk/

To my mind a boy of 13 who doubtless has been warned not to talk to strangers and told what sort of behaviour from adults is unacceptable should be able to manage alone.

Really sorry but it is very muh not recommended. There are sucessful journeys but there are also many paedophile gangs who target and waylay boys. My son was 15 and on a similar journey by train and was targeted by a man who offered him food and conversation- it was sheer good luck, not common sense, that he presumably didn't fit the requirements. He was old enough to know better- but was seduced into believing this man a genuine character, just wanted to be friendly. I would never ever let a child travel unaccompnied again, no matter how mature I thought they were.

I guess if they are using the train to get to secondary level school then it should be 11 but I really don’t like the idea of them doing this on their own. It’s fine if they are with a crowd of friends all going the same way but not all kids are streetwise enough at that age to go it alone.

18

I can understand your concerns. My son who was 16 at the time was asked by his dad to travel to his house, he couldn’t be asked to collect him, by train. South west in to London then across London by tube and then another train two stops to his. I asked his father to meet him at Paddington, which he did. When it came to the return journey he decided to let my son do it on his own. I was mortified. Fortunately all was well but I’ve been told that if you want to rely on getting somewhere on time don’t use a train! My son is now a confident 23yr old and has travelled abroad on his own. The only problem with a train journey as someone else has said, sometimes the train is cancelled, delayed and other things. If your GC is confident then ok but I would try to take half way or some sort of compromise. Best of luck x

when I was a child care social worker we used to reckon kids start walking home & making simple bus/train journeys so I reckon 13 is fine, with a mobile phone and not too many changes in unfamiliar territory

When my grandson stayed with me it was 2 tube lines to get back to his house. When he was about 13 I started taking him on the first tube line and then saw him safely on the train which went direct to his station and rang his parents to say he was en route. My only concern was that he would be so busy playing games on his phone and might miss his stop!!

I can remember travelling down to London when I was 15, my friend was 14. We were going to a concert at Wembley. Not too sure I would want to do the same if I was 15 now!
Really depends on where the GC is travelling to and from, which isn't a lot of help I know, also depends on how confident the GC is. I think if at all possible, I would do a dummy run first just so the GC knows where they should be - book seat tickets and for the lady that suggested contacting the train company for an escort - sorry, rail companies now have few staff - on some there are no longer ticket collectors and they are not airlines that have to provide such a service!

At the age of six (1990) my daughter travelled on her own from Weymouth to Jersey on Condor ferry. Her Dad was working in Jersey at the time. The staff kept an eye on her and she absolutely loved it. They called her name on the tannoy, which she loved, and she was first on, and she came off with lots of gifts. Maybe I would not let her do it now at such a young age, but she is now an independant adult, able to think for herself.

My grandsons are 13 and 11 and I wonder if they are old enough to travel by air on their own from one city in England to another. Sorry to change the thread but Gransnetters might have experience of this.

When I was 7 I was put on a train at Cologne to visit aunt at Kiel. I had to change at Hamburg, a massive station with about 16 platforms. I managed, but would not recommend today.

Surely, these days it is so much easier for anyone of any age to travel. Mobile phones mean they can be in constant touch, and seek help if required.

Few years back I used to take my (then) young teenage g.daughter after school to her Music School. a bus ride away in East London. Always talked her through that bus journey, so she knew where she was going. When I was unwell one week, she did this on her own. Unfortunately, just that day, an incident meant that the bus was diverted, so she had to get off quite early. However, she phoned her Mum, and her Mum was able to talk her through walking the rest of the way.

Many, many years ago, my young teenage twins used to take themselves right across London to go to Crystal Palace to attend their diving training. They were both small for their age (though as athletes, deceptively strong). One time, as they was sitting chatting on the underground, one of them had their ticket in her hand and a couple of youths pushed past, grabbibg that ticket from her. They (youths) rushed down the tube, my daughter rushed after them, caught up with them - they were very much bigger than her. grabbed the one still holding HER ticket, kicked him in the 'you know where' and calmly, took her ticket back, and then sat down happily. WHen his mate came over to her, she grinned at him, offering to do the same to him. He retreated.

Do not think it is any more dangerous now than then to travel, she always put her ticket away after that. I would have loved them to have had mobile phones back then. One time, they were travelling back across London (South West to NE London) late at night, and there was a major railway incident which meant there were no trains. They did phone me (public phone box), to let me know - but said they were trying to find another way to get across the river, so I was unable to tell them to remain in one place for me to drive to collect them. Did have me concerned for the next couple of hours until they phoned to say they were nearly home, and could I collect them.

TBH, I find that the helicopting parenting of so many teenagers make me far more concerned about those youngsters learning to cope. They are so very un=streetwise because they are always taken and collected from everywhere they go.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

I’d think it’d depend a great deal on the child - how scatty (or not) or sensible they are.

In the past IMO children used public transport at younger ages a lot more, at least partly because fewer parents had cars. At 6 I was taking a bus 3 miles to school. Going with an elder sister, but returning on my own, since she was 5 years older and finished rather later. And quite a long walk at the home end.

A dd (now 41) and a school friend at 13, announced that they wanted to take a day trip to Calais - on their own. It would be an adventure, with practising their French thrown in.

The other mother and I dithered and agonised, but eventually agreed. The journey involved a train to central London, tube across London, train to Dover, and the ferry.

I’m certain that I’d never allow it now! But they were fine.
My name and that of the other mother were mud for ages with other mums at school, though. Some were ludicrously over-protective - one would not even allow her 13 year old (no SN) to go shopping in the nearest town on her own.

I think there is more of a problem these days with attacks and theft. It was unheard of throughout my childhood and even my children’s’ childhood. Yes we had house burglary, bank robbers etc but people didn’t attack young children that I ever heard of. They wouldn’t have had much to pinch anyway - no phones etc.

From the age of twelve, in the late seventies early eighties, my son was travelling from his school in the South of England to Yorkshire to stay with my sister, during the short school holidays, and by plane to be with us during the long summer holiday. He was accompanied to stations and airports by universal aunts, but he never had any problems. I doubt if my grandson would manage as well - I don’t think he knows what public transport looks like! I really wouldn’t want him to have to anyway.