Sir, A recent incident at Oxford rail station has highlighted a very worrying issue - the care and safety of young people. A female 15-year old friend of the family went to catch a train home to Devon on Sunday and was prevented from getting on the train. Although she had a valid ticket, the ticket officer did not believe she was under 16 and she had no proof of her age.

As far as we can tell, he did not care what happened to her at this point - and even joked about her getting a bus! Her friend, seeing her off, called me on a mobile, but the ticket officer refused to talk to me and stopped other members of staff talking to me - so I could not sort things out. Eventually, an adult drove to the station and managed to get her on the next train, leaving much later.

The questions this raises include: 1: Are young people without valid tickets, or suspected of not having valid tickets, simply abandoned in Oxford? (If we had not been around to sort things out, I dread to think what would have happened to her.) 2: What publicity is there about taking proof of age with you when you travel on public transport? We certainly did not know this was necessary.

3: Why did no senior member of staff come to her aid and sort things out? Should they not be involved as a matter of urgency whenever someone is prevented from travelling?

She spent nine hours travelling that day, as she missed all her connections, and was travelling alone late into the night.

As a country, we are meant to take care of our young people. I wonder how many times this happens? Shouldn't our public services take the question of their duty of care of young people more seriously?

J. Sherman, Abingdon