to expect someone sitting in my RESERVED seat on a train not to grouch at me for claiming it??

[bookwormmum]

Fair play, the woman in the seat got up fairly sharpish to evacuate it but her friend protested saying that 'you can't be expected to stand all the way to London ([rom Cheshire]'. Presumably I could stand instead even though the seat was booked in my name weeks ago .

The train was so overcrowded in standard class they actually declassified the seats and all reservations were declared void just after I'd taken my seat. I half expected the second woman to ask me to leave the seat in favour of her friend again on account of this!!!!!!!!!!!

How outrageous that they declared all reservations void. What is the point of having reservations then?

I've had that before. I was on my way to Bath from london and a woman refused to get out of my seat. I had a huge row with her, much to dh's embarassment. She just said, she'd paid her money and the seat was empty so she took it (even though it had a reserved on it). I huffed off and sat in first class, the ticket inspector didn't move me because he couldn't be arsed to move her!

I hadan experienceof this once, travelling alone with my eldest dd's aged 3 and 5 at the ime. I had specifically booked three table seats fo us so they could colour and eat their packed lunch etc ( train ride was about 4 hours).

A nasty ma wouldn't get up eeven though there were other seats, just not with a table.I hd a buggy, a large rucksack and two toddlers, the youngest whom had started crying as the train had started moving by now..

A ticket collector came along at the right moment, asked the mn if hewould like to move..the mn said no, the ticket collector turnd to me and said 'as of now you ar upgraded to first class, come with me and I will get you a complimentary coffee and show you to your seats' He even carried my bag!!

I as so grateful I could have cried - and can you believe the nasty man actually jumped up and said he would change seats if it mean't going first class!!

shocked at all stories
now I'm never going to travel anywhere long distance by train with the kids, I can't believe they even declassify reserved seats

Well, I will expect anyone in my reserved seats to get out of them pretty sharpish. They always cram people into the advance reservations (cheap tickets) between London and Leeds like mad anyway. Apart from anything else, I've only booked a 3rd seat for two sets of return journeys so that dp and I don't have to crush up in two seats with a baby and all the trappings - am hoping that for 3 reservations travelling together they'll give us table seats.

I've never heard of reservations voided before, this was new to me as well - generally they've advised people to pay to upgrade to first class if they want a seat (which is absurd as at least half the train is first class carriages when most folk want to travel in standard). I always make a point of reserving a seat after spending two hours crammed into the corridor next to the train toilet one Friday before a Bank Holiday. Not a pleasant experience!

What a very strange woman, expecting you to give up your seat because she'd sat in the wrong place.

Travelling on Virgin the other week they declassified all the reservations because the computer wasn't working (wtf??!?).

Thankfully we got on at the beginning so dd & I were still able to sit where we were supposed to be, but there were several altercations on the way down to London between people who'd booked and the others already in their seats.

This was with Virgin. I often travel between London/Crewe and it's always jampacked on a Sunday night. It must be a new trick of Virgin then, I'll have to watch that.

reminds me why I always go everywhere by gas guzzling CAR

I normally do too, sixofone, but was doing a flying visit to parents in Liverpool and as dd wakes up at 5am when we stay there (my nutter of a dad goes downstairs every morning at 5am to (noisily) drink a cup of tea and it always wakes her up), if I'd have been driving that distance on 2 consecutive days with not much sleep, it would have been dangerous, quite frankly!

Journey up was lovely - deserted carriage, dd v. excited at first train journey, I even got to read a book for a bit whilst she coloured in!

But on the home leg, with cancelled reservations, our table was invaded by a couple with 3 small girls with no boundaries, who they (the parents) had brought no distractions for but then studiously ignored from behind their sunday supplements whilst the girls tried to take over dd's storybooks, stickerbook and colouring-in by force - apart from the odd weak "oh, don't do that, frogmella, it isn't nice..." - grrr

But that's the subject of a separate rant altogether!

If it is something virgin are making a habit of, they've lost me as a customer!

Trouble is if you want to travel to the NW, you're probably stuck with Virgin trains. At least on the East Coast, you can use GNER.

We always make reservations to make life easier...and anyway, it's their problem, I am sure next time they will make a reservation and have a seat, in the mean time, because they never bothered, stuff them

Sit and enjoy!!!

marie
x x x

i have to say i chuckled when you said about travelling to london from cheshire.....there is no station called cheshire lol!

I would have said no i don't expect to stand, thats why i booked my seats

Dejager, did you know there is another S African on this site under the name of dejags? WHat does it mean btw?

i thought Dejager was Dejags

Hi there ComeOVeneer

yes I was told so when I first joined, but hoped we can come to some sort of truce if any problems arose, and so far, so good.

um..it's my surname, my family is from Bristol, my parents moved to South Africa when I was still a baby. I married a south african from Durban, and I think it means "the hunter" - in dutch/afrikaans, die Jagter has the same meaning...

OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT - lol

musicianswidowAKAmumofmonsters

Sorry, no...but I have not seen her post since I have been here!

Think how lucky you all are having two of us!! LOL

marie
x x x

Mumto3girls.
I had the same happen once. I got onto the train and it was packed with rowdy football fans.
There was no chance of getting my allocated seat, and I wouldn't have wanted to be in that throng anyway.
The conducter came along pretty sharp and moved us to first class, with a table and sandiches and drinks. I wrote a letter of praise afterwards (bet they appreciate it, when they normally just get complaints)

Not a problem, I just noticed you and thought you were her. She hasn't been posting much as she has recently had a little girl who has been rather ill and in hospital. I was going to ask you how she was doing until I realised you weren't her. I'm sure she won't mind but it does casue confusion when people have similar names. And with such an unusual one, I'm sure you will regularly get mistaken for her.

Apologies for the hijack.

Cool, thanks for the heads up, I can change if I got to, I don't mind.

I do laugh when i reread How Not To Be A Perfect Mother when Libby P mentions 'half-empty long-distance trains'. Mmm, yes, possibly in 1986 Libby but not now. Much more popular and much shorter rolling stock.

What bugs me is when they pack everyone who's reserved seats into one hellhole carriage with arms and legs squeezed out of the windows it's so packed, and you move down two carriages to find peaceful empty space. Why on earth don't they spread the reservations out?