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Someone in your reserved seat

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HRS

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On a recent trip from London to Leeds, I sat in my reserved seat by the aisle until Doncaster, when the window seat was vacated, so I shuffled across. At Wakefield, a gentleman boarded the now near-empty train - for the 10 minute journey into Leeds - and informed me that I was in his seat! Slightly disgruntled, but I made no fuss and shuffled back to my reserved aisle seat - when he helpfully pointed out "that one's reserved as well" :roll:
 
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I had a good one two weeks ago coming back from Preston (PRE) to Penrith (PNR). Gets on at PRE and a very well dressed business man was in my reserved seat in first class. The train was full and standing including first class and somehow the reservation label for my seat was attached to the seat opposite but still clearly visible from my seat. Politely went up to the gentleman and said "Excuse me but I have reserved this seat." He sort of gave me a look of and? (me being dressed in a fleece and jeans him being in full suit, clearly thought he was above me in this situation) until I detached the label from it's friend that it was attached to (double height label to look at it but actually two) when he said "Oh OK then." and left looking very unhappy. Took great pleasure in the whole situation.
 

Mojo

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I was on an XC 4 car Voyager last Sunday to find that our two seats with a view were actually only offering us a view of a vibrating piece of white panelling. We were considering moving elsewhere but noticed that every seat in the three Standard class coaches were either reserved, or "may be reserved." I sent the Ten Minute Reservations system a text but appears to only accommodate solo travellers; our alternative seats were at opposite ends of the coach.
 

Captain Chaos

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The most rudest example of someone being in a reserved seat I have ever come across was on a service from Reading - Newcastle. Me and a woman boarded the train at Reading. Neither of us had seat reservations but I managed to find an unreserved seat and she sits on the other side. It later transpires that we were both making the same journey to Nottingham. When she boarded she took a long hard look at the screens, saw they were reserved from New Street and sat in them anyway using her luggage to block the other seat off (it wasn't busy, she could have used the racks as the train started at Reading). Just as we arrive at New Street she then stretches out across both and goes to "sleep". An elderly couple board and ask for their reserved seats, the train is now rather busy but their are two unoccupied seats ahead. She then goes ballistic swears repeatedly at them and says why can't you use the two in front? She was really going for it. Then she moves, puts her case in the seat to block it off again, gets her phone out, takes photos of them and puts them on FB and rants to the whole train about how rude they have been. She quietened down when we got the TM. Disgraceful behaviour.
 

class222lover

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I was on East Coast service to london Kings Cross and somone was sitting in my seat. The service was late as it was so I wasn't impressed, as I boarded the train the seat was very much in front of me, but astonished to find a young Asian person in my seat. I told her she was in my RESERVED seat and moved to a seat across the aisle that was ALSO reserved. Shortly after Peterborough, I went to the buffet car, but was amazed to see the next coach was EMPTY with no seat reservations. How could she miss that!...

The seat I aquired from the girl wasn't all good though, as I had a table seat, I was sat opposite a businessman who had very long legs!

Would have been better leaving the girl where she was and gone into the empty coach to choose my pick!:lol:

Kind Regards
Class222lover
 

Goatboy

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I was astonished to find a young Asian person in my seat.

Have you any idea how ridiculous you sound with that? You were 'astonished'? Really? It's a regular occurance, its hardly astonishing and she moved. Honestly..
 

BrianTheLion

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Last November I boarded the 1530 Edinburgh to London service at Edinburgh going to Newcastle.

I had booked the night before via East Coast, used the seat selector and happened to notice coach C only had 3 reservations in it so I chose my seat in this carriage, at the other end of the carriage to the other 3 reserved seats.

On boarding the train, there was a woman aged approx 60 in my seat, I looked around the rest of the carriage only to see numerous empty, unreserved seats.

So what do you do in this situation? Despite her age, there is no excuse for being either stupid, or selfish. There was approx 70+ vacant seats she could have sat down in but chose mine.

I sat in the seat in front but spent the whole journey annoyed by what would make someone do that.
 

craigwilson

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On a nearly-empty 158 from Manchester Oxford Road to Sheffield one weekend morning last year, I found what appeared to be a Chinese student wearing headphones in my seat.

After weighing up the prospect of communicating through the headphones and a language barrier, I decided to sit in the seat behind. Not worth arguing or calling a guard over.

At Piccadilly, a group of older gentlemen boarded, also on Advance tickets it seemed, and pointed out that I was in one of their seats. "Well he's in my seat" (pointing at the headphones guy) "so I just chose another" (gesturing at the carriage with about 5 total other people in it) — leaving it up to them whether to follow my suit or fetch the guard.

They ended up sitting at a bay table (which was nice for them), except for the one who insisted on sitting next to me in his assigned seat, despite his friends imploring him to join them.

Well...:roll: I'd have asked you why you didn't try to move him yourself, especially as (effectively)refusing to move for the booked residents of your seat is what you'd do in the first instance.

Just because another passenger is in your seat doesn't give you the right to sit in someone else's.
 

Temple Meads

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What relevance does the race of the person have to your story?

None. Simple as that I think ;)

Personally I rarely reserve seats and I've only had someone sat in my reserved seat once (on a very quiet early morning XC service) - and she moved to the adjacent seat without a fuss.
 

greatkingrat

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Not everyone is a regular rail traveller. Some people may be unaware that the concept of reserved seats even exists, particular if they usually only use local services.
 

class222lover

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Have you any idea how ridiculous you sound with that? You were 'astonished'? Really? It's a regular occurance, its hardly astonishing and she moved. Honestly..

As I had made many trips on this route without anyone in my seat, I found this to be irregular.

Whats the problem?;)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
What relevance does the race of the person have to your story?

Purpose of detail, thats all!;)
 

D1009

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It happened to us at Hereford staion on the return leg to Wilmslow last summer where ATW had not put out the seat reservation ticket cards (not for the first time, may I add) over the seats (I am 68, my wife is 71) but the young students there immediately vacated our seats when we showed our seat reservation tickets to them. Who says that young people are not caring...I say well done to them in this instance !!
As far as I am concerned if there is nothing indicating the fact that seats are reserved, then the seats are NOT reserved. In this situation the guard should make an announcement to the effect that due to printer failure or whatever reason it is, there are no seat reservations on this train, we apologise for any inconvenience and would ask passengers to occupy any available seat. People without reservations shouldn't be kicked out of their seats due to railway cockups.
 

221129

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What would you do if you are in the following scenario as has happened to me:
A Paddington - Plymouth Hst has Coach D (Where you have a reserved seat) the wrong way round (Back to Front) but the station staff don't notice so out the reservations out as if it was the right way round. Where do you sit? In the seat matching the number OR In the seat with the Reservation Ticket?
 

Bungle73

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I'm not sure why we should let someone get away with what ever they like just because they are "old". It's not only unfair, it's also a bit patronising as well. And what is "old" anyway?

Not everyone is a regular rail traveller. Some people may be unaware that the concept of reserved seats even exists, particular if they usually only use local services.
TBH if someone gave me that excuse, unless they were obviously from abroad, I would think they were trying it on.

What would you do if you are in the following scenario as has happened to me:
A Paddington - Plymouth Hst has Coach D (Where you have a reserved seat) the wrong way round (Back to Front) but the station staff don't notice so out the reservations out as if it was the right way round. Where do you sit? In the seat matching the number OR In the seat with the Reservation Ticket?
I don't get it. Each seat has a number. Reservations are tied to a seat number. The seat numbers stay the same whichever way round the train is.
 

Andrewlong

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As far as I am concerned if there is nothing indicating the fact that seats are reserved, then the seats are NOT reserved. In this situation the guard should make an announcement to the effect that due to printer failure or whatever reason it is, there are no seat reservations on this train, we apologise for any inconvenience and would ask passengers to occupy any available seat. People without reservations shouldn't be kicked out of their seats due to railway cockups.

Couldn't agree more. I was in an unreserved seat on a peak evening train from Reading last year. I say unreserved as train had come in late and the paper tickets had not been put out. Train moved off and passenger with reserved seat ticket turned up wanting my seat. As I was only travelling to Reading (25 mins), I gave up my seat but had I been travelling to Swindon I would not have.

If the guard had made an announcement it was a free for all then the rights of the reserved seat holder would have expired but without announcement it is very vague.
 

rebmcr

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What would you do if you are in the following scenario as has happened to me:
A Paddington - Plymouth Hst has Coach D (Where you have a reserved seat) the wrong way round (Back to Front) but the station staff don't notice so out the reservations out as if it was the right way round. Where do you sit? In the seat matching the number OR In the seat with the Reservation Ticket?

I would say that the Reservation Labels are king — as they are after all illegal to remove.
 

221129

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I don't get it. Each seat has a number. Reservations are tied to a seat number. The seat numbers stay the same whichever way round the train is.

It was Just the one coach that was the wrong way round whereas the rest of the train was as it should be. D82 was my Booked seat which SHOULD have been at The country end of coach D however the Label had been put in D02 which WAS at the country end of coach D.
 

Chrisgr31

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I read something on East Coasts website the other day about them paying out compensation if your reserved seat was not available, however I have never found it a problem sitting in my reserved seat, or indeed any othe others that are reserved but never occupied.

I was on a train recently where there was a row between 2 passengers as to which seats they had reserved, which one had the aisle and which had the window, went on for ages.
 

deltic1989

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I am among the lucky ones to have only had this happen once, but when it happened to me it did turn into a bit of a scene.
returning from my summer leave as a newly promoted Leading Seaman (Leading Hand, killick, Insert Sailor joke here). I decided to pre-book my travel as some of my oppos had informed me i could save money. Whilst I was about this pre-booking malarky for the first time I thought "why not go first class" so I booked my first class ticket for the NXEC part of my journey.
Now to the meat of the story. I board my train to find a very smartly dressed Gentleman sat in my seat. Now as I was on duty when I arrived at my base I was wearing my uniform to save on time, and because I was proud of my new anchors :) . I had a debate with myself weather to ask this Gentleman to move as I didn't want to cause a fuss, I elected to look for another seat. There were no remaining FC seats and I was damned if I was travelling cattle class when I had paid for First.
So I returned to my booked seat and said to the Gent " Excuse me sir, but you appear to be in my reserved seat." I expected a few grumbles but not what he said next.
"I'm not moving for you......Only OFFICERS can travel first class".
I was speechless at how outdated this man's opinion seemed to be. It felt like the whole coach was staring at me. I felt very embarrased (I was only 18). Not knowing what to do I found the train manager and explained my problem. He was very helpful and accompanied me back to my seat where the Gent spouted his "Officers only" bit again. The TM then asked to see his ticket. Only for him to produce a Standard Class ticket. The TM duly sent him packing and I settled down into my seat, and was shocked to receive applause from the rest of the coach.
 

HowardGWR

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I am among the lucky ones to have only had this happen once, but when it happened to me it did turn into a bit of a scene.
returning from my summer leave as a newly promoted Leading Seaman (Leading Hand, killick, Insert Sailor joke here). I decided to pre-book my travel as some of my oppos had informed me i could save money. Whilst I was about this pre-booking malarky for the first time I thought "why not go first class" so I booked my first class ticket for the NXEC part of my journey.
Now to the meat of the story. I board my train to find a very smartly dressed Gentleman sat in my seat. Now as I was on duty when I arrived at my base I was wearing my uniform to save on time, and because I was proud of my new anchors :) . I had a debate with myself weather to ask this Gentleman to move as I didn't want to cause a fuss, I elected to look for another seat. There were no remaining FC seats and I was damned if I was travelling cattle class when I had paid for First.
So I returned to my booked seat and said to the Gent " Excuse me sir, but you appear to be in my reserved seat." I expected a few grumbles but not what he said next.
"I'm not moving for you......Only OFFICERS can travel first class".
I was speechless at how outdated this man's opinion seemed to be. It felt like the whole coach was staring at me. I felt very embarrased (I was only 18). Not knowing what to do I found the train manager and explained my problem. He was very helpful and accompanied me back to my seat where the Gent spouted his "Officers only" bit again. The TM then asked to see his ticket. Only for him to produce a Standard Class ticket. The TM duly sent him packing and I settled down into my seat, and was shocked to receive applause from the rest of the coach.

Magnificent! You've made my day and reminded me who I am.

Incidentally, naval officers are instructed to travel in civvies to avoid unnecessary 'situations'. I wonder if there was one such, quietly chuckling, in your coach?
 

LTJ87

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What annoys me is when a passenger who finds their reserved seat is occupied decides the best way to deal with it is to sit in someone else's reserved seat!

A passenger on a recent train to London who was sitting in someone else's reserved seat had no problem in telling the passenger to basically sod off but wouldn't say anything to the person who had occupied her reserved seat.

On trains with electronic displays it does cause problems if the reservations are not showing as soon as the train starts boarding.
 

John07

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We were travelling back from Hull to Edinburgh many years ago and had paid to reserve four seats. There were two adults and three children in our party. The train got very crowded between Hull and York. A middle-aged harridan got on at Brough or Howden and seemed to think that one of us shuld have got up and given her our seat. She then spent the rest of the journey moaning that children should not be allowed seats when adults were standing.
 

edwin_m

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Got on a Bristol-Manchester Voyager with wife and son last week. The screens above each seat were blank and there was an elderly couple sat in our seats but there were other seats elsewhere so left them be.

Just after departure the Train Manager announced that the reservations computer was down but she was just about to reboot it. A few minutes later all the screens lit up. I had visions of everybody swapping around but nobody moved.

XC don't seem to do unreserved seats any more - just seats that may be reserved en route. The person in front of me asked the train manager why this was - she replied that only about 2% of the seats are ever reserved on the journey and she'd suggested to the management that they reduced the number of bookable seats accordingly. "Anyway you can always use your smartphone to book the one you are sitting in".
 

Goatboy

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Got on a Bristol-Manchester Voyager with wife and son last week. The screens above each seat were blank and there was an elderly couple sat in our seats but there were other seats elsewhere so left them be.

At this point you'd have had no grounds to ask them to move, sadly, as the TOC had not honoured the reservations.

"Anyway you can always use your smartphone to book the one you are sitting in".

You can't - if you are lucky enough to get one of these reservations (I have 10 consecutive texts from XC saying no availability over a selection of journeys over a 3 month period) then it allocates you a seat, you don't tell it which seat you want.
 

fairysdad

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Incidentally, I was on a Bournemouth-Manchester Voyager the other day looking for seats (was only going as far as So'ton) so was looking at the reservation labels to see what seats we could nab for the short hop.

It wasn't until we got going that my mate pointed out that there were labels on the seats, as well as the reservation screens (which were working fine)... that could well be a problem with the en-route booking system...
 

Mojo

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You can't - if you are lucky enough to get one of these reservations (I have 10 consecutive texts from XC saying no availability over a selection of journeys over a 3 month period) then it allocates you a seat, you don't tell it which seat you want.
Indeed; it allocates you A seat, which may not be in the quiet zone, and may be nowhere near the other seat you reserved from the same phone 5 seconds earlier, meaning you and your companion are sitting at opposite ends of the car.

Thank god I don't have to travel on XC often any more. I was only on them last week because they offered a £2.95 Advance for the ~40 Min journey.
 

bicbasher

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I reserved a window seat on a Peterborough to Kings Cross EC service, as it's such a short journey and the other seat was free, I didn't ask about moving seats, but we instead had a friendly conversation instead.

Our tickets weren't checked, but I did wonder if I'd have to pay the full fare?
 
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