Most obnoxious seat hogging tactics?

[MCR247]

It always makes me laugh when travelling with inexperienced family members when at a terminal station and you walk all the way up the platform and then they start complaining and go why go up here, there's a door there (leading to a rammed carriage) and then when you get to the top the looks on their faces look like you've shown them a whole new world!

I would never board at the first sets of doors (except when the trains about to leave!). Even if you are first on the train and have plenty of seats to choose from wherever you get on, because I'd rather be in exactly the same seat in an emptier carriage over a full carriage anyday!

 

[jon0844]

One reason a lot of people (especially the inexperienced traveller) won't walk along the train to board - and for an 11 car 390, that's a long walk as I found when I was booked in the quiet carriage at Euston! - is that people seem to panic that the train is somehow going to shut the doors and leave early.

I don't want to start talking about trains where the doors may close 30-60-90 seconds before departure, but people who seem to rush to board even if the service has just been announced and isn't due to leave for 10+ minutes.

If you could get the message over to them that there's NO RUSH and the train won't leave without them, they could relax a bit more and carry on walking. I guess they also think that they want to get on as quickly as possible to increase the chances of getting a seat, assuming everyone else is walking down the train!

I wonder if people simply don't trust the platform signs/clocks or their own clock/watch which might be showing a different time. Has anyone considered having a countdown that shows how many minutes you have until the doors are scheduled to close - thus giving some reassurance to people that they don't need to dive on the train at the first opportunity? Only for Intercity type services (not the commuter trains with a genuinely short turnaround).

 

[chris89]

It always makes me laugh when travelling with inexperienced family members when at a terminal station and you walk all the way up the platform and then they start complaining and go why go up here, there's a door there (leading to a rammed carriage) and then when you get to the top the looks on their faces look like you've shown them a whole new world!

I would never board at the first sets of doors (except when the trains about to leave!). Even if you are first on the train and have plenty of seats to choose from wherever you get on, because I'd rather be in exactly the same seat in an emptier carriage over a full carriage anyday!

Some people always decide to do that though.

When ever i get the Helensburgh Central (Get off at Armadale) Trains from Edinburgh Waverley, If it arrives on P8,9,10 i always aim for the back of the train especially if it is a double unit (Also got girlfriend to do the same now) As can always be certain it will be empty no matter. Also puts us closer to the steps at Armadale. Although if in one of the Bays though just got for the rear coach for ease really, normally doesn't get busy at all.

 

[oversteer]

It always makes me laugh when travelling with inexperienced family members when at a terminal station and you walk all the way up the platform and then they start complaining and go why go up here, there's a door there (leading to a rammed carriage) and then when you get to the top the looks on their faces look like you've shown them a whole new world!

I normally walk the length of a 12-car 350 to get a seat. Also with LM there's a good chance of a /1 (2+2) being on that end, certainly in the evenings.

Oddly though, the leading couple of carriages are usually busier than the 3rd or 4th back.

 

[LE Greys]

I normally walk the length of a 12-car 350 to get a seat. Also with LM there's a good chance of a /1 (2+2) being on that end, certainly in the evenings.

Oddly though, the leading couple of carriages are usually busier than the 3rd or 4th back.

A trick only works before everyone has heard of it.

 

[Flamingo]

I have to admit, yesterday I was happily announcing after Reading going into Pad (and telling everybody boarding at E) "Plenty of seats at the back!". WHEN I then walked from the front to the back, E & D had hardly anybody standing, and they were standing down the asiles in A B andC! OOPS

 

[ainsworth74]

Obviously you're announcements had been too effective

 

[Flamingo]

Obviously you're announcements had been too effective

I'm too used to whinging commuters who ignore them.

 

[CC 72100]

I have to admit, yesterday I was happily announcing after Reading going into Pad (and telling everybody boarding at E) "Plenty of seats at the back!". WHEN I then walked from the front to the back, E & D had hardly anybody standing, and they were standing down the asiles in A B andC! OOPS

Reminds me of a clip on The Tube (the original sky/ITV London series)

LUL employee announcement: "Please move right down the platform and claim your seat at the front of train"

*A few more people than expected take notice of the announcement*

LUL employee: "Noo, don't all move!"

You can't win...

 

[island]

One reason a lot of people (especially the inexperienced traveller) won't walk along the train to board - and for an 11 car 390, that's a long walk as I found when I was booked in the quiet carriage at Euston! - is that people seem to panic that the train is somehow going to shut the doors and leave early.

I don't want to start talking about trains where the doors may close 30-60-90 seconds before departure, but people who seem to rush to board even if the service has just been announced and isn't due to leave for 10+ minutes.

If you could get the message over to them that there's NO RUSH and the train won't leave without them, they could relax a bit more and carry on walking. I guess they also think that they want to get on as quickly as possible to increase the chances of getting a seat, assuming everyone else is walking down the train!

I wonder if people simply don't trust the platform signs/clocks or their own clock/watch which might be showing a different time. Has anyone considered having a countdown that shows how many minutes you have until the doors are scheduled to close - thus giving some reassurance to people that they don't need to dive on the train at the first opportunity? Only for Intercity type services (not the commuter trains with a genuinely short turnaround).

The onboard staff of the HEX have now taken to standing on the platforms at Paddington and sending people down to the front unit when the train starts to board, letting them on at the back nearer boarding time.

 

[Flamingo]

Once at Bath, LOTS of people queueing at the door of E (going to Bristol). I'm at F, calling "Please use other doors", nobody is moving, eventually I call out "Anybody who uses this door can sit in First Class for free". Not a word of a lie, the whole queue RAN down to F! (Which I had declassified!)

 

[WelshBluebird]

If someone refuses to move their bag for you, is it out of order if you move their bag for them? So many times I have been tempted to lift a bag up to the overhead shelf.

 

[VTPreston_Tez]

Posted on twitter today about a seat hogging move I had to cause today because my wallpaper couldn't fit anywhere bar next to a seat. Put it on the seat next to me until someone asked me to move it. Which I did but it was wedged in between 4 of us. (VT should have just declassified First Class as the train made an additional call at Crewe where I got on)

 

[jon0844]

Just sit on it and pretend you didn't notice it!

 

[michael769]

Just sit on it and pretend you didn't notice it!

A couple of times on crowded trains I may have not noticed someone's coat.....

 

[theblackwatch]

Posted on twitter today about a seat hogging move I had to cause today because my wallpaper couldn't fit anywhere bar next to a seat. Put it on the seat next to me until someone asked me to move it. Which I did but it was wedged in between 4 of us. (VT should have just declassified First Class as the train made an additional call at Crewe where I got on)

So it couldn't fit anywhere, but then when someone asked you to move it, you managed to fit it somewhere!

 

[VTPreston_Tez]

So it couldn't fit anywhere, but then when someone asked you to move it, you managed to fit it somewhere!

Yeah but it got partially crushed. VT's fault for putting a 9 car Pendo out of London or declassifying FC at rush hour.

 

[Flamingo]

If someone refuses to move their bag for you, is it out of order if you move their bag for them? So many times I have been tempted to lift a bag up to the overhead shelf.

If joe public, I'm not sure, although I''m sure traincrew would support your actions. If traincrew, then yes, if it's causing an obstruction or inconvenience to passengers, then we are under an obligation to shift it.

 

[maniacmartin]

If someone refuses to move their bag for you, is it out of order if you move their bag for them? So many times I have been tempted to lift a bag up to the overhead shelf.

I moved a woman's luggage when on the train via Luton Airport Parkway last weekend. She had boarded, and walked straight past the mostly-empty luggage racks near the vestibules and plonked her massive suitcase in the middle of the main gangway next to her 2+2 table so no-one could get past.

She didn't seem to mind, but to top it off, asked me to retrieve it from the luggage rack when she left the train. (It had wheels and was on the floor so I don't see why she couldn't do it herself :roll

 

[Flamingo]

I've had a woman in her 30's ask me to lift her suitcase onto the train, when I said no, she turned to the strapping teenager standing beside her, and asked him by name to lift it. They were travelling together, but she expected the staff to lift her bag as "it's your job".

Wrong! If you can't lift it yourself, you shouldn't be travelling with it.

I have heard a colleague say to someone with a larger than average amount of luggage "You know, the last time I moved house I used Pickfords"

 

[LE Greys]

I've had a woman in her 30's ask me to lift her suitcase onto the train, when I said no, she turned to the strapping teenager standing beside her, and asked him by name to lift it. They were travelling together, but she expected the staff to lift her bag as "it's your job".

Wrong! If you can't lift it yourself, you shouldn't be travelling with it.

I have heard a colleague say to someone with a larger than average amount of luggage "You know, the last time I moved house I used Pickfords"

That's the price we have to pay for (generally) having more upper-body strength, but then I've been brought up by a mother who expects me to open doors, carry the shopping, not sit down until she has and generally act like her butler, so it's practically second-nature.

Still, I remember one incident where I was travelling south on the Caley Sleeper with a practically-empty trunk (to collect more stuff when moving back to Uni at the start of term) where I ran into a young woman carrying a full trunk very similar, a massive backpack and an enormous box full of bottles. She refused any help (which actually made me rather annoyed) and staggered to the Euston taxi rank unaided.

 

[172212]

I just put my bag in the way. Or in extreme cases sit on both seats

 

[IanD]

17:30 ex Holyhead 03/08. Pregnant woman gets on with two kids under 5 (so ticketless). Proceeds to lay them down across two seats each in a bay of 4 and covers them with coats and tells them to go to sleep. Rest of train is now full and standing so she demands that the person sitting in the priority seat behind her unpaid-for nursery vacates the seat so she can sit down. The fool does so and ends up sitting on the floor in the vestibule.

 

[172212]

17:30 ex Holyhead 03/08. Pregnant woman gets on with two kids under 5 (so ticketless). Proceeds to lay them down across two seats each in a bay of 4 and covers them with coats and tells them to go to sleep. Rest of train is now full and standing so she demands that the person sitting in the priority seat behind her unpaid-for nursery vacates the seat so she can sit down. The fool does so and ends up sitting on the floor in the vestibule.

the things people do to avoid paying fares

 

[deltic1989]

17:30 ex Holyhead 03/08. Pregnant woman gets on with two kids under 5 (so ticketless). Proceeds to lay them down across two seats each in a bay of 4 and covers them with coats and tells them to go to sleep.

This I don't agree with having children under 5 myself, ths is something I would never do on a busy train. I would have one sitting on my knee and one on the seat next to me so that we take up the minimum amount of space possable.

Rest of train is now full and standing so she demands that the person sitting in the priority seat behind her unpaid-for nursery vacates the seat so she can sit down. The fool does so and ends up sitting on the floor in the vestibule.

This on the other hand is understandable. As Gentlemen we sometimes fail to comprehend the discomfort that women go through whilst pregnant.
Standng for long periods of time can be very tireing and can also possably cause damage to ankles and lower legs due to the extra weight that the body will not be used to, also because of the pain the lady may become stressed which will not be good for the baby.
In my opinon any sort of right minded healthy person who is capable of standing for thier journey should give up thier seat if there is a pregnant lady that would otherwise be left standing.
Spare a thought for us fathers/fathers-to-be who will be the ones getting the ear hole bending when she gets home.

 

[MCR247]

He's saying that she already has four seats in her possession but she wants another (taken) one. Not that she should have stood. Just sat on one of the two seats

 

[IanD]

He's saying that she already has four seats in her possession but she wants another (taken) one. Not that she should have stood. Just sat on one of the two seats

Exactly!

And 20 minutes after leaving Holyhead, she wakes her kids up (although they weren't actually asleep), finally comes and sits next to them but doesn't bother to tell the guy she turfed out of the seat that she's not using it any more!

(And then the kids proceeded to whoop, holler and scream incessantly all the way to Chester but that's for another thread)

 

[rdwarr]

I have heard a colleague say to someone with a larger than average amount of luggage "You know, the last time I moved house I used Pickfords"

Perhaps they were taking the "Keep all of your personal belongings with you" announcement at face value.

 

[deltic1989]

He's saying that she already has four seats in her possession but she wants another (taken) one. Not that she should have stood. Just sat on one of the two seats

I see now I misunderstood the post. Apologies.

 

[Harlesden]

OT: Small people sitting in the seats with the most legroom really annoys me

I find this highly offensive. I am a slim person myself and once I have purchased my ticket, I can sit anywhere I wish on the train. If somebody with your bizarre attitude said anything to me about the seat I had chosen for myself, I would tell he/she to mind their own business and learn some manners.