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.

*lucky

I would have taken a photo of them and sent it to their complaints dept and asked for a refund.

Perhaps if trains were more proactive when there are no staff on board it might help.
Perhaps a poster on trains saying if someone has booked the seat you are required to move. If not send their photo to this number?

Have a screen on trains or stations where they name and shame those people?
just thinking off the top of my head.

I used to travel by myself with 3 young children, taking train for 2.5 hours. Always booked a table, usually there was no problem but occasionally I needed to say very firmly 'don't f* with me, I lack sleep and I am on my period' then I growled. Worked very well. My kids said they would be scared if on receiving end. I couldn't look after them if we wouldn't sit together. I thought I need to show my kids how not to be pushovers. I mean there were times when I traveled with a little baby, a toddler and 5 years old and still needed to explain grown up people that we need to stay together.
I didn't need to but I would stay standing (holding my baby) above a seat thief until my baby pukes again. Hehehe.

I would have taken a photo of them and sent it to their complaints dept and asked for a refund.

A refund for what? That's what the TOC will ask.

Reservations were not active.

Gosh, changeofprivacy, I guess I must just be very lucky.....

I doesn't matter if you don't understand. I am here, on a train, in a reserved seat I bought about twenty minutes before departure, so I am afraid its true.....

part of the problem is also people reserving seats and then NOT sitting in them.

Mostly I find that stations are not always marked with where to stand for your designated carriage, so folks tend to burl onto the train and throw themselves into the first free seats they find
When I am Queen stations/carriage positions will be clearly marked and you will be OBLIGED to take up your reservations.

DH and the children had a huge standoff once with a very vexed woman and her husband. She insisted dh and the children had stolen her table seat, would not show dh her tickets whilst insisting that he show her his tickets and haranguing her husband to fetch the guard
The guard arrived and pointed out that not only had she not got a table reservation she was not even on the right train.
The entire carriage was packed and laughing their heads off by the time the guard got her off the train.
AND she left two fresh hot coffees on the table as she'd had to put them down :o

Anyway, the reservation wasn't displayed on the train at all. He had it printed on the ticket and an email on his phone, these systems can all work without needing input from the train driver, I suppose

Which all makes it even more of an unworkable idea?

Gosh, changeofprivacy, I guess I must just be very lucky.....

Well yes, what's with the '....'?

I doesn't matter if you don't understand. I am here, on a train, in a reserved seat I bought about twenty minutes before departure, so I am afraid its true.....

Oh, I see. I wasn't suggesting you were lying. I was saying you were LUCKY. Not the same thing.

@Velveteenfruitbowl - that’s not the case. The reservations stand whether the display is working or not. In many trains there’s a sticker next to the reservation things that says that even if they say available they may be booked. I commute every day and have become very insistent in ensuring people move if they’re in my seat.

Today 11:41 MaButterface

I'd get their stuff and throw it away so they have to retrieve it and sit down. Then ignore them the whole journey.

I’m not saying it’s the right thing to do, but the little scenario, with the seat stealers shocked faces, which played through my mind, did make me laugh 😂

I had the opposite of this once. Seat reservations were all cancelled as someone had killed themselves and train companies were telling people to just get any route home (Saturday night). A bloke with two sons sat at a table seat and then a woman came along and demanded he move as it was her "booked" seat. Despite everyone telling her there are no booked seats anymore, she insisted. Bloke clearly didn't want a confrontation in front of his kids so gave in. Stupid, stupid selfish woman.

@Doggodogington - you can. On our line you can book a seat by text- even minutes before the train arrives.

I would have taken a photo of them and sent it to their complaints dept and asked for a refund.

cabbageking You wouldn’t get a refund. Your ticket is for the train journey, not a seat. You are not guaranteed a seat; a reservation is nothing more than a courtesy.

A bloke with two sons sat at a table seat and then a woman came along and demanded he move as it was her "booked" seat. Despite everyone telling her there are no booked seats anymore, she insisted. Bloke clearly didn't want a confrontation in front of his kids so gave in. Stupid, stupid selfish woman.

So basically just what OP did.

I don't get this. If you are in first class without a ticket and you refuse to move, the guard will call the police, the train will stop at the next station, and you will be removed from the train.

So why don't they do this with people who sit in other people's reserved seats, if the guards are cowards and useless like this?

Devereux1 The difference is that you pay a lot more for a first class ticket. Seats on a train are a courtesy, not a guarantee.

Happened to me a few years ago when I was with a friend. It was a 4 hour train journey. Two unruly blokes were very vocal and rude about not moving out of our booked seats, so I went to find the train conductor to complain. My poor friend was very anxious and panicky as it was a busy train home from a London.
The helpful conductor moved us to first class with the free drinks, snacks, paper etc.
About 20 mins later I went to the loo and popped by the original seats and smugly thanked the pricks for getting us upgraded to first class.

I think maybe its a southern thing where people lie, as they got off about 20 miles from London it would never happen in Liverpool as the people are friendly and well mannered

😂😂😂🙄

All you do is say you don’t give a shit why she’s sitting on your seat but she should move now. Or you are contacting the train manager. Most people would move.

Incidentally, the incidents described on this thread are why driver-only trains are a bad idea. I've been seriously inconvenienced by rail strikes over the years, but if they're striking about the introduction of driver-only trains, I do support the staff in this.

mumsmerian so you can book a seat, get in the train and turf out the person that’s been sitting there for the last hour? What line is that?

Doggodogington

All Cross Country lines. They run from Cornwall up to Scotland via Bristol, Birmingham and Leeds.

I didn't expect a refund but if we start complaining that we have booked a seat we could not use then perhaps the companies would be more proactive?

Perhaps they just need to have more explicit instructions on trains about what is expected and what is just ignorant and rude?

God, I’ve been on the railway 20 years and I’ve never heard of that. That’s crazy. So I could get on at Bristol and kick someone who was on from Cornwall out of seats I booked 10 mins ago?

Doggodogington If you believe what it says on Cross Country's website, then yes. I've no idea if the 10 minute booking thing works in practice. If I haven't booked in advance, I don't bother - I'm prepared to stand if there are no free seats.

I just checked, the seats have a sign saying “available” but me be reserved en-route. So I guess if you sat in them, you should reserve them quickly before someone else does. Learn something new every day.