Elderly couple on train

[brummiesue]

Initial thoughts were what utter twats they were especially after hearing that the woman in question is heavily pregnant. I then however saw the unpixelated photo and the poor woman who wouldn't move looks poorly. AIBU to have a little sympathy for them now??
Link below hopefully
mol.im/a/7602911

The woman wasn’t heavily pregnant at all, that’s rubbish, and her kids look quite comfortable sharing the seats so what’s the big deal?

It’s disgusting vilifying those two old people, who probably would have struggled to get up on a moving train.

If they were my kids, I would have made them stand anyway. Especially given the size of them - hardly babies.

It’s called manners and consideration for others. Something which is sadly lacking in this generation of entitled brats.

@snowball28

It’s not ageism to say you find older rude people annoying

It is ageist in this circumstance - the OP didn't say she found older rude people annoying. That would, indeed, have been descriptive.

The OP desired this particular couple as rude and annoying. Their age was nothing to do with it.

They acted like entitled idiots. The conductor should have made them get out of the seats. Had it been the other way around I bet the family would have been told to move in an instant. The mum was right to shame them.

The conductor sorted it, its really sad people feel the need to go on social media in an attempt to humiliate people. Who knows why they felt they needed the seats, even being 'well' it was perhaps challenging for them to stand for long periods and maybe there were no other seats. Reservations are often cancelled, or even if not as in this case train companies usually compensate if not.

Why should her kids stand? They are as entitled to seating as anyone else

I think it was completely unnecessary to take it any further, especially considering it was resolved by the train company.

Well the couple didnt move did they? So they will do it again and not give a crap

If the couple (in the wrong seats) were poorly they should have booked seats/waited for a quieter train/spoken to guard about an upgrade. I'm fed up with this on trains, I book a seat because I have a hip issue which means standing still is very painful, I've even now got a letter out of the local train company because it happens so often (I get a free upgrade if the guard can't make people move). I've been taking the coach of late though, cheaper and get a seat!

While I agree you shouldn't sit in reserved seats, I don't agree with people running to social media over shit like this just so a million strangers can slag off those in the "wrong". People don't think beyond themselves to the people their comments will be affecting while they're sat behind a computer screen

It’s called manners and consideration for others. Something which is sadly lacking in this generation of entitled brats.

So let me get this right, taking seats that you have not reserved and refusing to move when someone who has reserved them asks you to is your idea of manners and consideration?! You are totally and utterly deluded.

If all the seat reservations were cancelled due to the train being a few carriages short, the elderly couple were in the right unless the cancellation applied to every passenger except the woman and her children.

'Something which is sadly lacking in this generation of entitled brats'.

And people wonder why this generation has no respect.

• hers

There is nothing to suggest the older couple were ill or disabled.

If they were, they ought to have booked Assisted Travel. This means a guard carries on your bags, sees you to your seat and generally makes sure you are ok.

I know older women aged 80-90 who travel alone on trains who use AT.

As for reservations being null and void owing to fewer carriages- how do we know if this is true?

There is no excuse for taking a seat not reserved for you, otherwise.

I've seen this a lot on trains in the past and when asked to move, people do. You can see where they reservation starts and ends, so it's okay to sit there until the owner of the reservation boards which might be a few stops up the line, but then you have to move.

Am all for showing it on SM but as you can't see their faces I doubt they will be put in the stocks.

"Whatever happened, it's not right to have put these people on social media. And the way that girl is looking at them in the photo is disgusting - not behaviour to be proud of"
Yes, it is. Behave like arseholes. Get named & shamed.

The seat reservations were cancelled. So they did nothing wrong.

If they were my kids, I would have made them stand anyway. Especially given the size of them - hardly babies

What even if there were spare seats?! 😂 how weird

I work in Cheltenham, and there's a comment on local press from someone else on the train........apparently the train was a few carriages short so all reservations were cancelled. Which is why the people were sat there..

I've been on a train where this has happened because of a booking system being offline - but surely passengers honouring the reservations is he beat way forward? So if someone shows you their tickets then move - on the train I was on (where I didn't reserve a seat so moved 3 times) it was digital reservations, much easier for this train in the OP where they have tickets in the back of the seats

The changes the story completely if all reservations were cancelled. They had every right to sit there and all pics of them should be removed.

Look at them - they’re old! They probably couldn’t just get up and walk down the aisle of a moving train.

What sort of scumbag would eject two old people from their seats on a fast moving train so that three hulking kids - two of them near teens - who could easily stand would be more comfortable.

What the hell has happened to common decency and values in this country?

I dont think it matters if the seats were cancelled, what sort of person deliberately splits up a family anyway, they had booked 4 seats but they ended up with only 3. Why should the kids push up together, am guessing the train company dont actually allow 3 people to sit on 2 seats. If the train was short of seats then maybe they should have opened up the first class carriages to everyone, it's always the commuter who suffers with our shit train services.

but surely passengers honouring the reservations is he beat way forward? So if someone shows you their tickets then move - on the train I was on (where I didn't reserve a seat so moved 3 times) it was digital reservations, much easier for this train in the OP where they have tickets in the back of the seats

meh. Not everyone will have a seat if the train is short and reservations not being honoured. If the older couple had reservations then they were probably really worried they'd have to stand all the way too, and they may not be young and sprightly, and they may have hidden disabilities etc etc.

TBH if someone was raging at me and putting my photo on Social Media I wouldn't be making eye contact either.

Look at them - they’re old! They probably couldn’t just get up and walk down the aisle of a moving train.

How can you see them? Their faces are blanked out.
So they ought to have booked Assisted Travel which is for the old and infirm.

You are being ridiculous. I know old women aged 80-90 who travel alone and can manage to walk from the train door to a seat. That couple look- judging from their clothes- no more than mid 70s.

They probably couldn’t just get up and walk down the aisle of a moving train. Oh please. Its a train, not a rollercoaster.

You know 'old' doesn't mean 'disabled' right?

Happened to me once, travelling with my DD when she was about five. I'd booked seats and a man was sitting in one of them. When I told him that it was my seat he just shrugged and said 'shit happens.'

I couldn't find the guard quickly and there were plenty of empty seats, so we took some others, but I'd booked THOSE seats because there was a table, facing the way of travel, quiet coach, etc. If I'd just wanted to take pot luck I would have done so. We ended up with our backs to the direction of travel and no table.

If all the seat reservations were cancelled due to the train being a few carriages short, the elderly couple were in the right unless the cancellation applied to every passenger except the woman and her children.

I'm not liking the way the older daughter is behaving.