To say something? Small children on quiet coach

[Balacqua]

Family with two toddlers in here.journey just started. I don't want to be an arse, maybe they don't realise- could be tourists, not sure - aibu to say something, nicely?

And agree that there is no option NOT to have the quiet coach. I've found myself in there on a few occasions without meaning to be.

Earplugs are wonderful things - so if you're travelling in the quiet-not-silent coach it's well worth remembering the above and taking a pair with you.

"If they have booked the quiet coach with their noisy children they are selfish"

Not necessarily- many of us have explained that train companies often allocate seats in the quiet coach to families with children. Booking online with many train companies gives you no option to choose which coach you are not in.

Calling someone selfish due to a fault in the booking system is unfair.

Last time I got booked into the quiet coach, I went down to the station ticket office the week before to ask for the reservations to be changed because I would be travelling with a 1-year-old. They wouldn't do it unless I paid £70 for a new ticket. Ridiculous system.

Absolutely YANBU. If there are plenty of free seats elsewhere on the train then people who have toddlers who they think will be noisy should choose those instead - in exactly the same way that anyone else who wanted to make noise should. Many people seek quiet carriages deliberately - to work, to sleep, because they are frail / feeling ill or just because they fancy some peace and quiet.

That said, I think you probably made the right decision in just moving yourself as opposed to saying anything. Probably would have been more trouble than it's worth. Enjoy the rest of your (hopefully peaceful!) journey.

I travel on trains a lot with my children. When booking my tickets I've got on the train at least 3 times and realised that I've been placed in the quiet coach with my three children. Trying to find 4 seats together is nigh on impossible, even on a fairly quiet train. Thus ensues a stressful three hours of trying to keep my (actually very well mannered and not screechy) girls as quiet as I possibly can.

Oh and to those who are saying that the person with toddlers should move, how exactly are they going to manage? Take toddler/baby look for a seat? Leave them there? Go back to get belongings to find it's been taken?

it isn't fair to be noisy in the quiet coach, If you spend a fair chunk of your life travelling and rely on being able to use that time to rest or work.

Can you raise it with the ticket inspector?

Maybe the train companies deliberately put kids in the Quiet Carriages to annoy the passengers.

TBH its not usually the kids that are a problem but the adults.

the ticket inspector should help them move.

Depends who is working, sometimes the inspector is only round twice. To get any help is normally 3 carriages away in the food bar, but then you still have to wait an age for someone to get back to you.
I know if you've booked the quiet coach it's bloody annoying, but sometimes you're stuck in there with children through no fault of your own and if it's busy there is no where else to go.?

I posted on here in panic when I realised I had booked seats on the quiet coach with my two not quiet DC. Like others have said, it is possible to actively choose the quiet coach but not to actively choose not to be in the quiet coach. Luckily, the train was not too busy, so we found somewhere else to sit.

This family should have done that too.

Defensive there Sad?

Not all. I was explaining.

I don't need to defend my position - I was explaining my utter confusion with the original OP. But read the whole 3 pages now and you will see that once the issue was properly explained, other families are saying how they were allocated to the QUIET COACH even though they didn't want to be there.

I personally don't mind listening to children - but not when I am working.

But I can tell you stories about booking myself, my friends and my dog on train lines that accept dogs in carriages (and paying for the dog's ticket so he can travel under the table) and having parents - or other people - freak out because they don't want to be in a carriage with a dog.

The last time I travelled to Whitby, I had to move my dog up 3 coaches on a moving train (with children wanting to stroke him as he walked past) because a particular WI meeting thought that their jams and goodies they were taking to a craft fayre might be contaminated by dog hairs as we did the journey.

I did leave the coach because I couldn't have done the 1.5 hrs journey without my dog going to sleep and feeling confident. But where did I end up? In the guards coach, sitting on a box! My friends (elderly gents who I was taking out for the day) were left sitting alone in the original carriage not knowing where we were.

Of course I insisted on a refund of my dog's £10 ticket (and I got 50% of my own ticket refunded), but it was a horrendous journey for us and I worried about the train journey back all the time I was walking them around Whitby.

Yanbu, OP n I cannot believe some of the posts on here givin u crap because u expect the quiet coach to be, yano, quiet!

Whilst I appreciate the noisy lot might have ended up in the quiet coach in error, I would still be miffed if I had chosen it for the exact reason that it is quiet.

Yay for you being moved!

Oops, posted too early.

Meant to also add that I think some of the replies on here are a bit much. I don't get why the OP was snapped at (even taking in to account any confusion).

Clearly some people got out the wrong side of the bed today.

I'm glad OP is in first. That's a great result. If the train isn't busy and there are seats in the other coaches then parents with noisy children should definitely move. Talking is ok in quiet coaches but only quiet talking. Most toddlers and young kids that I know are not capable of maintaining quiet talk.

I do understand that seats can be allocated to parents with children in the quiet coach so I don't don't get annoyed with them.

BTW I thought a lot of the replies were rude too!

the quiet coach means:

• mobiles on silent. if you need to use it, get off your lazy arse and go into the corridor. NO TALKING ON PHONES. End of. Belt up.
• minimal jabber. Not total silence, but if you want to spend the journey chattering to your mate, even about work, wrong carriage. Speak QUIETLY.
• beepy beepy toys on silent. Music turned down. Yes, I know you've blown out your hearing listening to the one-note shriekers but not my problem. Turn it down so I can't hear it.
• no kids unless they are quiet. (there was a woman in the quiet coach on my last journey with four kids; all spark out asleep for the entire trip. Marvellous)

when you book, the system tells you which coach it is and gives you a choice.

quiet means just that
so no chattering, no mobiles, no kids
train companies can' even supply trains half the time, so not holdinng my breath

It's absolutely insane that you can book the quiet coach if you want it, but can also randomly be allocated seats in the quiet coach when you do not want or need them, and when it may be impossible to comply with the quiet rule. I am thinking families with young DC as in this case, but also things like outings of a pack of excited brownies, or even people who need to be taking business calls or having a business meeting en route.

Get off your lazy arse. How does a disabled person do that, special. Please do tell.
I don't know about a Coach it sounds like like a Freeeekin borstal.

I think iliveinthelighthouse hasn't availed herself of the facts: that this is a (singular) quiet coach on a train. Not a coach coach. But a coach on a train of many noisy coaches. And the op chose the quiet coach because she wanted some, you know, quiet.

But upgrade to first! Well done op

SadW you did appear to be the only poster who couldn't understand the OPs post at the start. And yes, you came over particularly arsey and sounded deliberate obtuse.

I've been allocated the quiet coach against my will more than once. Once I was travelling with dcs (4 of them, all under 10 at the time) and I stayed where I was. Fortunately my dcs are naturally quiet and just did drawing and read and stuff but they weren't' silent and I did feel awkward. Not quite awkward enough to gather all our luggage and pushchair and try to find new seats together. I have asked to be moved when I've been travelling with a friend and we've wanted to natter. You can't always simply sit where you like - if you have allocated seats some inspectors get arsey to find you in the wrong ones. It is stupid that you can't ask for non quiet.

when you book, the system tells you which coach it is and gives you a choice.

No, it doesn't. Or at least not universally. What sites are you using? I've booked with thetrainline and direct with Virgin, and neither gave me a choice or even told me where seats were until after I'd paid. (Am sure thetrainline used to tell you where the seats were but they don't any more.)