To think that if you sit in a reserved train seat that's not yours then you should expect to move?

[Rhine]

Just back from a few days away. We always reserve seats when traveling a long way to ensure that we can all get a seat together. On the way down we got on to find that someone had already taken our seats, the traing was almost full but all moved without hesitation except for one rude women who questioned it. We produced our tickets to prove it and she got up whilst huffing and puffing loudly that she "needed to be sat by her kids" I should add that her kids were not sitting with her, it transpired they were actually sat at the other end of the carriage. So she sits down on the other side of the train and it moves off.

Then at the next stop an elderly lady got on, and told the same women that she was now sitting in her pre booked seat. She once again tried to question it, actually refusing to move at one point and tried to make out that this lady had made a mistake. Eventually she did move, but now started to huff and puff even louder about needing to be near her kids. So I asked her why she hadn't booked her seats as surely it would be easier and it meant she and her children would have been able to sit together but I was promptly told to mind my own business as she's stomped off down the carriage loudly moaning about needing to be near her kids. She found another seat but for ages afterwards I could hear her loudly going on to the person sitting next to her about how rude I was to question why she hadn't pre booked seats and how her need to be sat "Near her kids" was actually more important than those od people whod booked a seat! I was also told by someone sat opposite me that she'd already been moved twice before we got on!

Now if you really need to be sat "near your kids" then common sense dictates that you should pre book seats to ensure you alll get to sit togther, and if others have booked seats then you should expect to be moved on? BTW the "kids" in questions were actually teenagers, not little ones so why they hell she had to be sat near to them is a mystery? And in fact she actually ended up sitting nearer to them when moved on from mine and the elderly lady's seat.

This is not the first time I've encountered this kind of behaviour on trains. One time I' even had a woman point blank refuse to move from my seat and had to fetch a conductor to sort it out. Surely if you sit in a seat with "prebooked" written on it you should expect to be moved on at some point in the journey?

OP, as others have, that woman made it your business when she used it (sitting near her kids) as an excuse for not moving.

A useless post but this thread has brought right back my rage about being on a christmas train and having the GALL to ask a man who was sat in my reserved seat to move.

'But I need to sit with my wife and the baby' he said.
'But they're across the aisle' I said
'Yes' he said
'But there's a spare seat, you'll just have the baby on your lap'

It was a baby baby, as well. Totally lappable.

MASSIVE HUFF from him. Massive. Spent ten minutes huffing audibly about how I was a twat. Then put on heaadphones, got out a book and ignored his wife and baby for the entire journey. At which point I realised his huff was about having to maybe have his own baby on his lap for an hour or two.

I almost wanted to pass his wife an LTB note.

YANBU. I would always just move if I had sat in a reserved seat and the person turned up.

Some people don't travel that much and get anxious about it, or don't know or understand the system.

But some people just don't like being proved wrong, especially in public!

NDT, it is mandatory that advance ticket holders sit in their reserved seat on all trains where seat reservations exist:

www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/46546.aspx

Blimey, I didn't know that! I occasionally travel on advance tickets, so will bear that in mind, and call the guard if someone is in my allocated seat and refuses to move.

We travelled on DB trains in Germany last week (and what an eye opener that was) and the same thing happened- a passenger refusing to move from a reserved seat on a very overcrowded train. They moved in the end, but not without putting up a lot of resistance. There are stupid people everywhere.