‘Spat on’: Woman shares harrowing Melbourne tram ordeal

A young woman’s story of being harassed and spat on while catching public transport in Melbourne has gone viral.

A young woman has shared her story of being accosted and spat on during an ordeal while riding a Melbourne tram and called out passengers for not intervening.

Erin Batchelor, a South African living in the Victorian capital, posted a video to her TikTok account detailinghow she “felt helpless” while a stranger recently harassed her.

An emotional Ms Batchelor said she was “still shaken up” by the incident in the video, which attracted almost 158,000 views.

She said a man got onto the tram she was travelling on, saying she felt “very wary of him”.

“So just sat where I was and I was keeping my eye on him,” she said.

“But you could just tell he was so high on something, he was just speaking to himself.

“And then he pulled out a full bottle of red wine and started sipping that from the bottle and then spitting it out on the floor and making all these noises.”

Ms Batchelor said things escalated when the man approached her and tried to grab her mobile phone.

“I just looked at him, and I didn’t say anything because I was quite scared,” she said.

Erin Batchelor said she was shaken by the incident. Picture: Tiktok/@erinbatch

She said a man followed her around a tram. Picture: Tiktok/@erinbatch

The man then sat down in front of her, Ms Batchelor said, making her “very uncomfortable” and prompting her to try and leave the situation.

She said the man “put his leg out to block me”, forcing her to jump over his limb.

“I walked all the way to the back of the tram,” she said. “And two other ladies that were around me also followed me to the back of the tram.

“But then he started following us and this is when I started recording, because you just never know what could happen.”

Ms Batchelor said what made her feel even worse was the fact other people on the tram, including men, failed to step in and protect her.

“There were all these men sitting there that did nothing,” she said.

“Which is so frustrating as well. Seeing a young woman like me, and another young woman feeling uncomfortable and we’ve got nowhere to go.”

The incident took place on a midweek afternoon in Melbourne. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

The man approached the women and started “speaking very aggressively” as a shaking Ms Batchelor waited for the tram doors to open at the next stop.

She was forced to push past the man to get off the tram, but Ms Batchelor said it was then that he spat towards her.

“It was so disgusting, he spat on me,” she said.

“And I felt so disgusted and luckily the tram doors closed.”

People gave her wipes to clean herself up and stayed to give her support, she said.

“It was just a horrible experience because you’re so helpless and you have no idea what this person might do.”

“I don’t understand why people don’t try and help people if they can.

“It’s just so frustrating when these things happen, and especially when women don’t feel safe, and it’s literally on a random Wednesday at two o’clock in the afternoon, in daylight with so many people around.”

Ms Batchelor said she wanted to share her story so that others would remain vigilant “because you just never know what situation you might get into.”

The video attracted hundreds of comments of support, with one saying they knew other women who had endured similar incidents.

“Hate that this is a somewhat normalised thing on public transport,” they wrote.