Train passengers refusing to move

[HolyGuac]

Well, I'm really disappointed in the general public. AIBU to be shocked at the hard faced people in our sets refusing to move?

I booked train tickets and reserved seats about three months ago as we are having a special pre Christmas Day out with my two kids and husband.

Get on the train and the seat reservation numbers above the seats (the digital display ones are on the blink), it says from Euston...we are going to Euston, there are people in our seats who are refusing to move.

One said there's plenty of other seats, there are other seats but not in a table which is what i had booked.

We moved on found separate seats (two two's behind each other) I've been back to ask them nicely if they could move as there are no other table seats, this is a special trip etc etc they've flat out refused.
One said someone took Her seat which is why she moved to our seats, I asked why she couldn't have asked for them to move and got some blather about just taking any seat as the displays are not working!

I'm really disappointed by people today, what a bunch of arses. They are sat there knowing it's not their booked seats.
I would never take someone's seat like that.

Not moving needs to be a fineable offense in the way fare dodging is

I agree. People book seats sometimes for convenience but more often for a reason. People who are disabled, elderly or otherwise constrained are deterred from train travel by this and the apparent inability for conductors to do anything about it.

On the spot fines for people in the wrong seats who refuse to move when requested by train staff, just like they hand out to fare dodgers.

highly amused at the suggestion to 'throw bags out of the window' - someone hasn't been on a train in years, windows don't open any more!

Well I mean it is a ridiculous suggestion but we still have lots of trains on the U.K. network with windows that open.

Up and down the east coast from Kings Cross to Aberdeen we still have 40 year old slam door stock with pull down windows. They are being replaced in the coming weeks with brand new trains, but the stock is moving to EMT and will still be in service.

Not moving needs to be a fineable offense in the way fare dodging is

Can't you see the huge difference between the legal revenue protection and someone reserving a seat? We don't need a law for this.

The second is simply a free service that may or may not be working

It isn't universally free but that isn't the point. People with travel constraints are advised to book seats because it makes it easier for everyone (traveller and staff). Staff need some penalty to impose to enable them to support people following train company advice.

Travelling by train with any kind of disability, constraint or as a carer is a nightmare as it is but the lack of any reliable seat reservations just pushes people back onto roads and air.

surely to god no-one would sit on their arse watching an elderly and infirm couple struggle to stand on a long journey?

You'd hope not, but it might not be that simple if the people already in the seats were also infirm or disabled.

Anyway, thanks to the recommendations here, I'll hopefully be able to arrange some help for them .

Fortunately we can meet them at our local station - last time I was there, the lift wasn't working and there were no staff in sight. As I was heaving my cases up the steps, I saw two women having to lift a child in a pushchair up them - goodness knows what would have happened if a wheelchair user had got off the train.

My parents are in their 80s and no one ever gets up for them. The majority of the British commuting public are inconsiderate arseholes it seems. It's really sad

We don't need a law for this

Well we need something if we actually want trains to be accessible and discourage anti social behaviour. I don't see it as any different to fining for littering, dog fouling or any other anti social behaviour.

@C8H10N4O2

I don't disagree. The comment you have quoted was given as a reason why people who sit in others reserved seats are not treated as fare dodgers. The reason is that it is not law.

surely to god no-one would sit on their arse watching an elderly and infirm couple struggle to stand on a long journey

You have to be joking. I'm a disabled traveller who has largely given up mainline trains for exactly this reason. People develop blindness and deafness and plain bloody rudeness in the prescence of someone needing a seat.

@C8H10N4O2

Maybe you have a point there we anti social behaviour.

The reason is that it is not law.

Oh I understand why staff are constrained at the moment. I think it should be a legally enforcible fine just like for any other antisocial behaviour.

You had a good result in the end, well done however I really relish this sort of thing happening to us one day. My kids can poo, fart and annoy people at a professional level so we’d be stood right next to our seats until they got bored of us I’d also whip out the deodorant and other annoying activities to do right next to them.

If you have elderly frail persons travelling can recommend booking assistance. I did this for my 89 year old Dad on a long journey, busy train and Staff were brilliant. Ramp up for safety, escorted to seat, made comfy, reverse happened in Edinburgh. If it’s a terminus, best to take your time, let others off first. If it’s busy and folks are shoving from behind, a stiletto heel carefully placed on foot behind “accidentally” gets you more room!

You're right, @Gentlygrowingoldermale I used this service some years ago when I had a badly damaged ankle and was on crutches. They were superb.

In the OP's scenario, I'm afraid there are too many people who are like that and they get away with it because a lot of train guards don't feel that they're able to stand up to them. I can't even say I blame them, as there is a lot of violence towards public transport workers these days.

I'm glad you got a good result, though, OP.

Guard isn't spineless just doing his job as instructed by his company. Blame the company not him.

If the reservations were down I am surprised the people who took your seats didn't try and get into first class, that's what they usually do.

I'm amazed you even managed to get on your scheduled train to Euston. Aren't they striking again today? It was carnage last Saturday

but it takes a special kind of arsehole to be so pedantic when there is a family with kids standing there

They weren't standing there - there were empty seats on this unreserved train.

And they sat in them.

And still chuntered on demanding better seats for their special bottoms.

I was on a very busy train last week - taking my DS to our nearest city for his third birthday treat (he was 3 that day) - got ok and no seats, full of business men/women - I had a big bag with me and hot drinks for us both. We stood for 45 mins in the aisle as not one person moved & when the train lurched and my son fell over I was tutted at for placing the drinks on the table to go help him.

Not one person offered to let us sit or perch even!

They were asking to have the seats they booked @APerkyPumpkin.

Which is no outrageous or entitled or anything else.

People who don't move in those circumstances are arseholes.

APerkyPumpkin Actually, yes I would. I would have got my reserved seat without a problem.

And good to know about special assistance. It's the sort of thing my dad would have pooh poohed in the past but he has recently discovered the joys of the blue badge

Really glad you got sorted into nice seats eventually. But shame on the rude people who sat in your seats and shame on the guard for not making them move.

I had a stand-up row with a commuter many years ago when he sat in my reserved and paid-for seat. But he did eventually move. Some people are just so entitled.

The train reservation system is thus country is utter rhubarb

Any advanced tickets usually come with a reservation. Did you know you can buy an advanced ticket up to ten minutes before your train departs?

So my husband and I get on the train for a long journey for a holiday. The sign above the seats clearly state they are not reserved. The train departs; fills up a little more at each station; then suddenly about 40 minutes in, along came a man saying we were in his seats!! No we are not, this sign says they are unreserved!!

Oh, he says, I only bought the ticket half an hour ago.

Whaaaaa? How can that be? We sat down in these seats 40 minutes ago, then 10 minutes later the train company sold them for someone else!!! And now the train is full. We are not assholes so we move, although grumpily, and I phone to complain.

How dare you sell the seats we are already sitting on to someone else? And then we have to move, and stand for the rest of the journey!? Compensation, please! (reasonable, I thought)

Oh no, says the lady. Seat reservations are just a courtesy. You weren't obliged to move. You could have said no.

Hmmmm, says I. So anyone could sit in any reserved seat, and not have to move if the ticket holder arrives?

Yes, she says.

And that puts a whole new light on my travelling experiences since!!

What the hell is even the point of these seat reservations anyway, if it means precisely nothing? They're free, they come with an advanced ticket whatever, so they don't even make the train company any money. They just make people think that they've bought something that they haven't....

If the reservation system isn’t working then unfortunately your reservations don’t stand. It’s rubbish but that’s just the way it is (DH is in this industry)