To ask why people sit in reserved seats?

They are chancing it, hoping you don’t show up.
I used to book seats for me and my four year old when we did regular long trips. They would get grumpy with me for asking, but they should book of they want a seat.

Of course I'm going to feel awkward waking someone up and asking them to move all their stuff! I do it mostly because I have to

There’s no “of course” about it. Posters are telling you it doesn’t make them feel awkward or if does, not awkward enough to to render them incapable of behaving like functional adults. Someone suggested going to find the conductor if you really don’t feel up to telling the woman to move - why not do that?

As for being thick skinned and assertive, good reason to develop those qualities is for your own sake, it helps get through life. Just tell her to get off your seat and try not to give two fucks if she gets huffy.

OP, maybe I am mis-reading this but are you saying that if the train was from Aberdeen to London and the seat was reserved from Peterborough to London, you would rather stand all the way from Aberdeen than sit in the reserved seat?

As obvious as the answer to your OP is, people sit in reserved seats hoping that the person who reserved them never turns up, or if they do turn up, that they just choose another seat.

Some people take it further and try to make the person who reserved the seat feel awkward about asking them to move. I would be secretly pleased that such a cheeky person was being forced to move anyway, but then there are people like you who can be made to feel bad about it, which is what make sit a worthwhile strategy for them.

Do you pay extra to reserve a seat?

they sit in the seat because 9 times out of 10 the person who has reserved the seat will do exactly what you did, stand there and be British!
that 10th time the person goes in and says oi fucker get outta my seat, they say blah blah, the person says its mine i booked it move, they do , the person sits, all is good with the world
try being the 10th person every time

I completely get what your point is, OP.

It's not your fault that people can be dickheads when you assert yourself - if 9/10 times you had a 'oh sorry' when you asked someone to move then you probably wouldn't mind.

But if 9/10 times they huff and puff, that confrontation is a pretty shitty way to start your day and why should you have to face that shitiness?

Not everyone has bullet proof thick skin and an iron strength sort of personality, I would start to dread it too.

So I'm forced not to use by allocated seat if it's facing the wrong way.

That’s what happens to me. Presumably though the OP would prefer vomiting on the train to someone sitting in a reserved seat until the owner turns up.

To think I thought I was rule-driven...

They will be waiting for you to tell them in a bored and slightly put upon tone that they are in your seat, please move along.

I gernerally wouldn't sit in a reserved seat unless we'd gone past the station it was reserved from. However, I tend to vomit if sitting rear facing on a train and sometimes you can't choose the direction of travel. So I'm forced not to use by allocated seat if it's facing the wrong way.

You seriously stand rather than sit in an empty reserved seat? That's crazy.

If someone sits in your reserved seat, you politely ask them to move. Not very complicated really.

One of the many stupid things about our train system is that you reserve seats free with an open return, so you might as well but are not restricted to that train. If you had to pay a few quid to reserve, as is common in other countries, it would probably only be used by people definitely taking that train.

I think people try their luck, hoping the person won’t turn up or had sat elsewhere. Or they just stay in them until they’re asked to move as they’d rather half a seat for at least part of the journey.

But I have no qualms about telling people I’ve booked that seat, normally they just go ‘oh sorry’ and wander off.

On our route nearly every seat is reserved but the train is half empty. Commuters (season tickets) can reserve seats for free so they book multiple trains

Raven but again, your anxiety is not someone else's problem - just tell the person they're in your seat and need to move.

OP, you are perpetuating the problem by not asking someone to move from the seat you reserved. That person possibly sits in reserved seats as they are never challenged about it. Blue skies states that a lot of the time the person who reserves the seats desn't turn up and the person who sits unchallenged in your seat could think you didn't turn up too.

I can only think selfish entitled fuckers too. I traveled end of last year. On way there someone was in my seat (window) but the rail staff had just escorted a blind lady to the aisle seat so I didn’t want to make her move and stood. I was recovering from a broken ankle so terrified but hey ho the train was full.

Way back the reservations weren’t working but the tannoy said “if you have a reservation please sit in your seat”. So I asked the woman in my seat to move. Christ it was like I’d shot her kid or something. She said “actually the reservations aren’t working and someone is in mine” I said “the reservations actually say this seat MAY be reserved it is reserved by me. It’s not my problem someone is in your seat, listen to the tannoy and tell them to move”. I have awful anxiety and hate confrontation but I genuinely couldn’t have stood that journey.

this is really you're problem to sort - I don't mind people sitting in my reserved seat because so often you'd end up with empty seats and people standing, but I don't have any issue with asking them to move and their huffiness is not my problem.

You seem very passive and making a mountain out of a molehill. Just tell the person in your seat that you’ve reserved that seat and show them your ticket if necessary. No need for any ‘confrontation’ or martyrish standing around letting someone take up your seat.

I don’t always sit in the seat that I reserve. I need to sit facing the direction of travel and specify that when booking. Often that isn’t what I get so I don’t sit there. Why shouldn’t someone else sit there on the proviso they get up and move if and wheb the reservee shows up? It makes sense to do so, particularly on congested trains.

The issue here is yours.

I wouldn't stand if I had a reserved seat!!

Because they are selfish and think that the "rules" don't apply to them and they rely on the more thoughtful people not wanting to cause an issue.
Their behaviour is rarely challenged so it becomes perpetual.

I never used to challenge this sort of thing either - but now I'm older I do 'cos I'm sick of it now (not just public transport twats- anyone who thinks that their convenience trumps other peoples inconvenience!

I call myself a grumpy old woman but that's not entirely true really...I just can't tolerate selfish eejits these days (yes I'm talking about you- ignorant parents who park in front of the pedestrian entrance at school because you can't be bothered to drive around the corner to the main entrance...)
I'm with you OP!

Because they're selfish entitled fuckwits who rely on people feeling too awkward to ask them to move.

hoping the person won't turn up or will feel bad when they see they're looking so settled in

Yup that's what they're doing! I was on a train last week and a group of friends sat down in reserved seats and they said "fuck it, if we get asked to move we'll refuse, get comfy!"

Some people are just dickheads.

I wouldn't have any problem ejecting someone from my reserved seat, btw. Asleep or not!

My work guess when I went to travel (usually wrongly) and book me a seat. Since my ticket is an open one, I’m often on a different train.

Many of the reserved seats on trains from London aren’t used, it tends to be about 50/50 in my experience. I’ll often sit in them if there’s no where else but I’m poised to move before the train leaves.

It's just like eating a bag of Revels - it's the uncertainty. Am I getting a disgusting Orange Chocolate one, or the nice Malteser one. Same as getting on a train. Problem solved.