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Good evening or whatever time zone it is in your locale,
I am posting on this forum because I cannot find any other place where I feel I can safely share experiences like this without receiving abuse and having people trying to "shut me down" with zero knowledge of the facts in question.
Last summer I visited a hostel in London in the UK. I am from the UK myself living not too far away from the capital.
I had booked a bed for two nights, the hostel was having technical issues with their app on checking in so they gave me a bit of paper with a room number and door code scribbled on it (normally I am told an app would be used to unlock room doors using bluetooth, but this was not functioning properly when I checked in).
I went to look for a rooftop common room/terrace which had been advertised, looked around for a bit, found it but it was closed. Went to my room on the second floor and dropped off my belongings. Went out to grab a deodorant from the shop across the road but on the way visited the bar downstairs as they had given me a voucher for a free drink. Went to go to the shop but realised was missing the aforementioned piece of paper with my room number and code on it and had forgotten the number.
Slightly panicky but remembered it was on the third floor (out of the elevator, left turn, another left turn then on my left). Walked back across the reception and a female was checking in and she walked away from the desk as I passed so she was in front of me at the door going to the elevator/rooms - they had also been given a bit of paper with a room number on it so I assume the app was experiencing issues for everyone...
This person was going to the same room I was, I commented on this and I think they entered the code for the room door as I had misplaced my paper with the room and code on it as mentioned earlier. I realised this was not the same room I had gone in earlier, but stayed in this room for about 10-20 minutes as I was trying to get the Goki app to display my room details like it should do, and also was due to be going out for dinner very shortly and meeting a friend.
Asked girl in this room if they had code for door as was worried I might get stuck outside or something and sometimes the reception might be empty or unmanned.
Went out to honest burger down the road got food went for walk afterwards and came back to the hostel – I got app working whilst out for dinner
Came back to my correct room and getting changed for bed realised I couldn’t find my Tissot (expensive French watch) watch which was left to me by late grandparent and was of sentimental value, which I feared could have been stolen.
Retraced steps inside building and re-entered third floor room to check for it in there if it had fallen out of a pocket whilst I was in there earlier
Room was dark couldn’t see much – bed I had sat on earlier was taken, so sat on an empty bed – the first empty bed I could see, in that moment my plan was to wait until a bit lighter as only couple of hours until sunrise, and then have a look around or ask the person in the bed I had sat on when they woke up
I drew curtains on this bed and pushed/poked a bundle of sheets/duvet that was overhanging from bed in front of mine – curtains on this other bed were closed and was not aware if anyone male or female was in this other bed. Dark room could not see if anyone in this other bed
Sheets moved and person female drew open curtain of my bed and asked if I had touched her toes. I replied it was not intentional and apologised and she laid back down not saying anything else
After 5 or so minutes she got up and left the bed and left the room
I was now a bit anxious about the way things were going based on her tone of voice and then leaving the room, along with the fact that I knew this was not my room, so I left the third floor room to be on the safe side and went to a nearby bathroom down the corridor to use the toilet. Mind was racing a bit so I tried to calm myself down
Black guy came into bathroom and was demanding to know if “anyone who’s not a female is in this toilet” – was talking through the door and did not identify himself
He asked me to come out which I hesitantly did – I was nervous at this stage as I did not know who he was and he seemed angry. Asked me my room number and then what was I doing in the third floor bathroom and kept asking me if I had a black hat
He kept insisting I come with him. He did not tell me anything about an alleged incident. He became increasingly angry when I asked to get my shoes and my bag from my room. But I insisted on this because I wasn’t about to be left without any shoes or without my belongings
He was on the verge of assaulting me when I was insisting on getting my belongings and kept asking lots of questions but not listening to answers and I was unable to think coherently due to the stress/intensity of his demeanour – I have a voice recording of this and CCTV would show the altercation with me and him
I still did not know who he was but implied that he was some kind of staff member
I was extremely stressed and anxious and was going to the wrong doors on the way down getting confused. I did mention to him that maybe this had something to do with why I was on the third floor to begin with
I was taken to the reception desk where I began trying to explain the situation to the staff member at the desk but they were again not really listening and the first black guy told me to leave the hostel. I was struggling to speak due to anxiety and my mouth feeling dry.
I went round the corner to a nearby housing estate and changed into my normal clothes as I was still wearing pyjamas/bed clothes and wasn’t about to walk around London at 2/3am with those on
I walked back around to main road and saw police arriving outside the hostel. I could not believe how this was escalating so went back to the entrance to try and get hold of someone to try again to explain my situation
An officer came out, asked my first name and arrested me. 7 months later here we are, and I have been charged with "sexual touching of a female over 16" and summonsed to appear at court in early/mid March. I figured the time to act is now here. I am going to instruct solicitors as soon as humanly possible, get the disclosure from the police on their case and evidence against me and get the ball rolling.
I am beyond angry that this has happened and have to dissociate myself from how angry I am because I am honestly struggling to deal with it. I cannot see how anyone in their right mind can be accidentally "bumped" by a stranger and their first thought to be, not curiosity or open-minded apprehension, but to run straight to the police to get the person in trouble and ruin their life.
I am posting on this forum because I cannot find any other place where I feel I can safely share experiences like this without receiving abuse and having people trying to "shut me down" with zero knowledge of the facts in question.
Last summer I visited a hostel in London in the UK. I am from the UK myself living not too far away from the capital.
I had booked a bed for two nights, the hostel was having technical issues with their app on checking in so they gave me a bit of paper with a room number and door code scribbled on it (normally I am told an app would be used to unlock room doors using bluetooth, but this was not functioning properly when I checked in).
I went to look for a rooftop common room/terrace which had been advertised, looked around for a bit, found it but it was closed. Went to my room on the second floor and dropped off my belongings. Went out to grab a deodorant from the shop across the road but on the way visited the bar downstairs as they had given me a voucher for a free drink. Went to go to the shop but realised was missing the aforementioned piece of paper with my room number and code on it and had forgotten the number.
Slightly panicky but remembered it was on the third floor (out of the elevator, left turn, another left turn then on my left). Walked back across the reception and a female was checking in and she walked away from the desk as I passed so she was in front of me at the door going to the elevator/rooms - they had also been given a bit of paper with a room number on it so I assume the app was experiencing issues for everyone...
This person was going to the same room I was, I commented on this and I think they entered the code for the room door as I had misplaced my paper with the room and code on it as mentioned earlier. I realised this was not the same room I had gone in earlier, but stayed in this room for about 10-20 minutes as I was trying to get the Goki app to display my room details like it should do, and also was due to be going out for dinner very shortly and meeting a friend.
Asked girl in this room if they had code for door as was worried I might get stuck outside or something and sometimes the reception might be empty or unmanned.
Went out to honest burger down the road got food went for walk afterwards and came back to the hostel – I got app working whilst out for dinner
Came back to my correct room and getting changed for bed realised I couldn’t find my Tissot (expensive French watch) watch which was left to me by late grandparent and was of sentimental value, which I feared could have been stolen.
Retraced steps inside building and re-entered third floor room to check for it in there if it had fallen out of a pocket whilst I was in there earlier
Room was dark couldn’t see much – bed I had sat on earlier was taken, so sat on an empty bed – the first empty bed I could see, in that moment my plan was to wait until a bit lighter as only couple of hours until sunrise, and then have a look around or ask the person in the bed I had sat on when they woke up
I drew curtains on this bed and pushed/poked a bundle of sheets/duvet that was overhanging from bed in front of mine – curtains on this other bed were closed and was not aware if anyone male or female was in this other bed. Dark room could not see if anyone in this other bed
Sheets moved and person female drew open curtain of my bed and asked if I had touched her toes. I replied it was not intentional and apologised and she laid back down not saying anything else
After 5 or so minutes she got up and left the bed and left the room
I was now a bit anxious about the way things were going based on her tone of voice and then leaving the room, along with the fact that I knew this was not my room, so I left the third floor room to be on the safe side and went to a nearby bathroom down the corridor to use the toilet. Mind was racing a bit so I tried to calm myself down
Black guy came into bathroom and was demanding to know if “anyone who’s not a female is in this toilet” – was talking through the door and did not identify himself
He asked me to come out which I hesitantly did – I was nervous at this stage as I did not know who he was and he seemed angry. Asked me my room number and then what was I doing in the third floor bathroom and kept asking me if I had a black hat
He kept insisting I come with him. He did not tell me anything about an alleged incident. He became increasingly angry when I asked to get my shoes and my bag from my room. But I insisted on this because I wasn’t about to be left without any shoes or without my belongings
He was on the verge of assaulting me when I was insisting on getting my belongings and kept asking lots of questions but not listening to answers and I was unable to think coherently due to the stress/intensity of his demeanour – I have a voice recording of this and CCTV would show the altercation with me and him
I still did not know who he was but implied that he was some kind of staff member
I was extremely stressed and anxious and was going to the wrong doors on the way down getting confused. I did mention to him that maybe this had something to do with why I was on the third floor to begin with
I was taken to the reception desk where I began trying to explain the situation to the staff member at the desk but they were again not really listening and the first black guy told me to leave the hostel. I was struggling to speak due to anxiety and my mouth feeling dry.
I went round the corner to a nearby housing estate and changed into my normal clothes as I was still wearing pyjamas/bed clothes and wasn’t about to walk around London at 2/3am with those on
I walked back around to main road and saw police arriving outside the hostel. I could not believe how this was escalating so went back to the entrance to try and get hold of someone to try again to explain my situation
An officer came out, asked my first name and arrested me. 7 months later here we are, and I have been charged with "sexual touching of a female over 16" and summonsed to appear at court in early/mid March. I figured the time to act is now here. I am going to instruct solicitors as soon as humanly possible, get the disclosure from the police on their case and evidence against me and get the ball rolling.
I am beyond angry that this has happened and have to dissociate myself from how angry I am because I am honestly struggling to deal with it. I cannot see how anyone in their right mind can be accidentally "bumped" by a stranger and their first thought to be, not curiosity or open-minded apprehension, but to run straight to the police to get the person in trouble and ruin their life.
UK is an extremely cucked country
