The adults are just as bad

9:43am Thursday 17th April 2008

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Unfortunately, Mr Dipaolo's account of the inconsiderate boy who snatched his seat on a bus is not confined to youngsters (Harrow Times, April 3).

Those, like myself, who use any part of the route 302 from Mill Hill to Kensal Rise will know just how crowded the service gets.

Seeing that an elderly man was particularly vulnerable to being knocked around, I recently directed a youngster to kindly give his seat up.

He was in the process of obliging when his father, also seated, protested that the elderly man had not himself asked for the favour.

Moreover, almost daily, I find myself directing passengers on the Metropolitan Line to comply with the signage to keep their feet off the seats. I made this point to a recent meeting of the Harrow Civil Service Pensioners Alliance.

A pensioner there recounted how, when attempting to do the same, the offending passenger protested that observance of the sign was not compulsory because the sign only said, "please".

The solution to restoring some discipline to our civic spaces requires joined-up thinking.

We could start by safeguarding uniformed staff at stations, instead of phasing them out.

Dr Shahrar Ali
Brent Green Party, London Assembly candidate for Brent and Harrow