AIBU to think the Quiet coach of the train isn't the most appropriate place for noisy/badly behaved small children

[ComposHat]

Took a recent long distance train journey and because I wanted to work I booked a seat in the train's quiet coach.

However this turned out to be a bit of a forlorn hope due to the presence of very loud children (maybe 4 and 7) who spent the duration of the journey running up and down the aisles, shouting and screaming , whilst their parents made no effort to control them.

Now I don't blame the kids as they can get bored and irritable nor did I expect them to sit on silence, but what on earth were their parents thinking taking them into a carriage of people who had specified a QUIET traveling experience.?

AIBU to expect them to move to a different area of the train, especially as there were plenty of seats throughout the train?

Missmuddle if you read my op I stated that the train was uncrowded and they could have sat elsewhere should they wish. Even so is it unreasonable to expect parents to exercise a modicum of control over their children in such an environment? How is the noise from a loud and unruly child any less distracting than a lengthy phonecall made by a businessprick?

BTW GNER existed for about 6 years!

missmuddle I'm surprised they won't let you specify a 'non' quiet carriage when you book, I usually find they're ok with that- different operators though. Madness to think people will be annoyed by mobiles but have no problem with the noise of small children.

Sorry GNER haven't existed for 6 years.

YANBU. I always book into the Quiet Carriage so I can get some work done on the train (as opposed to the person who marched in there on his mobile, bellowing, 'I'm just moving into the Quiet Carriage so I can hear you better, yah, it's nice and quiet in here!')

That said, last time I went up to Carlisle on the train, the entire Quiet Carriage was filled with a school party going nuts with two teachers doing nothing to stop the racket. When I asked the guard what was going on, she said the train company had block-booked them all in there because there were more seats all together.

east coast, national express or whatever they are called now if you are travelling on your own with samll children and luggage it is difficult to move seats and i do pays for seats for my under 5s and i do try to control them but sometimes children are unpredictable, I wish i could specify not quiet coach but it is not available with online booking i can specify a table or forward backward facing seats.
I don't want to be in the quiet coach but always seem to end up in it - I agree with you but you should contact the operator as i have .

Pozzled if you're booking online it's just that there isn't an option for standard coach. You can pick quiet, disabled access (usually the same) or first class.

I try to sit in the quiet carriage on my daily commute. Without fail it is full of people talking on their phones, playing music out loud, watching films on their laptops without ear-phones... right under the ma-husive bright blue "quiet" signs stuck to every window.

Bit of a forlorn hope I think.

DP would like me to say that when travelling on the QC you need to be 'ready for combat' and say something to people making noise.

He has many war stories about telling businesstwats to shut up etc.

I travel regularly via East Coast (and previous incarnations) with my three young children. As PP's have said, I have in the past been allocated seats in the quiet coach, and it is a bit difficult to then move seats once you've already racked your luggage and got them all to the table (mine tend to start unpacking their train bags before I've even finished putting the luggage away ), plus from where you are you have no idea if there's any other seats available (they may be currently empty but reserved for a further part of the journey). One of the previous companies who ran the line insisted you had reservations for the train and checked your seats too, so moving wouldn't have been an option.

That said, I do think some effort should be made to keep children sitting down and occupied. Mine are 8, 4 and 2; I pack their DS/Mobigo, their MP3 players, magazines, books etc, and with lunch in the middle to break it up it isn't actually that hard to keep them busy. I think child noise is to be expected, loud voices etc, but running up and down the aisles and generally being out of control is a bit off.

TBH, I have a bigger problem that on one of our journeys we were subject to a raucous and drunk hen party group who were playing loud music, waving around a naked blow up man doll and being generally obscene. None of the staff did anything about it and it did get wearing after being stuck with them for over 2 hours in such a confined space...

Used to travel on East Coast a lot for work and liked to sit in the quiet coach when alone. Went in there once with two colleagues as there was nowhere else to sit and was harangued shushed by a woman across the aisle for talking in a normal voice. I tried to point out that "quiet" doesn't mean "silent" but she wasn't having it and threatened to get the conductor if we didn't stop.
However, YANBU at running around and shrieking - that's not on wherever you sit on the train.

Having read the comments here, I agree that it is utterly daft that you cannot request a "not quiet" coach. Most coaches are not quiet so it really shouldn't be a problem.

I've had problems with hen parties too. On one occasion I had to move from my reserved seat to sit in the corridor after being subjected to six women screaming constantly for half an hour. Completely repulsive and disrespectful behaviour on a train, quiet coach or not, and I'd expect (hmm ... actually perhaps I wouldn't) women in their 20's or 30's to be able to behave themselves a bit better.

Don't know what people would have made of our works Xmas outing .... 12 people all wearing sombreros and false moustaches. But we were well behaved.

If there were plenty of seats then they should have moved or made more effort with the kids. YANBU.

But people break the rules all of the time... no point treating yourself to a first class seat on the Kings cross- Cambridge night services as everyone just piles in there anyway. And I've yet to see a ticket checker.

I thought QUIET just meant no mobile phones

You have to travel first class if you don't want to see badly behaved children/parents.

Children in first class know how to behave, and usually do it exquisitely.

It's no mobile phones, audio equipment and keeping noise to a minimum.

I miss the smoking coach, was always lovely and yellow quiet in there.

I'm loving the idea that richer people who travel first class have quiet kids

Missmuddle, I had exactly the same problem with my two kids aged 3 and 7. I asked the guard to find me somewhere else but he couldn't so we stayed put. Mine are fairly well behaved but certainly not silent on a 3 hour trip. BTW, if you can't request a "noisy" coach you're stuck if you really need to use your phone.

Why Laurie?

If you have badly behaved kids, don't book them into first class.

You are dead right, if there was space elsewhere they should have moved. You would have been reasonable to have a quiet word and ask the parents if they realised they were in the QC and there were many seats elsewhere. It's possible they didn't realise.

Some people do see the signs and think it's only 'no phones or loud audio equipment' when what is meant and usually said in the announcements is 'reasonably quiet, especially no phones etc.'

I was quite amused once to sit opposite two young business-types conducting a meeting over about 20 mins at full volume - before it dawned on the senior one that there was a reason no-one else was talking and it wasn't that they were utterly fascinating. He sounded embarrassed. I'd almost leant over and asked, in a genuinely curious way rather than critical, if he was aware. Probably should have, as IME most enforcement comes from fellow passengers but it was evening and no-one seemed too stressed.

I do love the quiet coach, when travelling for work or just reading the Saturday paper. I'd feel utterly embarrassed to be in there in charge of a noisy child, unless the train was packed to bursting. There should definitely be an option for booking a 'non-quiet' seat.

i think they should intoduce a family coach :)

They used to have them iirc.

As long as well behaved children don't have to sit there.