To wonder why so many people on trains become selfish.

[Sickoffrozen]

I went to London on Tuesday this week on business and the train was extremely full with some people standing.

Why do people think it's acceptable to sit in one seat and put their bags on the one next to them in the obvious hope that no one will ask them to move it? There were also some kids sprawled out on two seats, asleep.

The train manager twice made announcements to ask for people to move bags from seats yet some people still didn't. There was plenty of room in the overhead storage so no real excuses.

Why is having someone sat next to you so bad?

Are these people as selfish in all aspects of their life do you think?

It often works out cheaper to buy a seat for a 4 year old if you have a railcard.

Andrewfgg as a family, I dont think any of us mind seatbacks in our faces. We just like to inflict ourselves on as few others as possible by sitting in a cluster, which usually involves a table.

well I frequently tell people to move their bags even if there are other seats. I may fancy sitting at a table or not sitting backwards. A bloody bag does not have priority.

Momagain1 Fine: reserve one if you can, get to an unreserved one first if you can't. My point was about the people - and I have come across this - who expect singleton passengers to vacate the table seats they have bagged by reservation or with their backsides. One of them told me that my children can't possibly spend three hours with a seat back in their faces - this was a journey to Newcastle - which is what I base what I said on.

tobysmum77 I would certainly expect a bag on a table seat to be moved even if there were non-table seats free.

If I'm on my own, I'd far rather have a seatback to myself than be at a table with a group. Much more peaceful.

Read my post. I am talking speciically about the situation where the train is half empty, I have my bags on a seat and some smug seat-policing twat like peppersaunt or notquiteruralbliss or onlylovers feels the need to make a point by going for the seat that has my bags on rather than than one of the many seats that have nothing on.

notquiteruralbliss Fri 10-Apr-15 12:39:29
If I have a choice of a seat with someone's bag on it and one without I always pick the seat with the bag to sit on. I just smile and ask the owner to move it.

OnlyLovers Fri 10-Apr-15 12:46:48
Me too, notquite. I seek the selfish ones out.

^That is definitely passive aggressive behaviour.

I do move my stuff onto my lap when the train actually fills up but I'm usually carrying more than one bag and the tube has no luggage racks - I don't see why I should bury myself underneath my bags in a half-empty carriage just on a point of principle!

We spend a lot of time in Europe, and most of this seems to be a very british thing. People are a lot more tolerant of sitting next to others on the continent. Mind you, I was on a swiss train a couple of months ago that had a full on family carriage with child's soft play thing/slide etc. that's a good idea for keeping those with kids amused.

I dread to think how the people who won't move their bags would feel about people sitting next to them on long tables in a busy restraunt as is also the norm.

Having said that, I will always book an aisle seat as I don't like window seats. I always put my bags in the overhead racks but as I'm diabetic I panic about not being able to get up and get to my bag of I need it, or having to ask someone else to move to do so. If I sit in the aisle I can just stand up and get to my bag. Sorry if this offends you but it's just tough.