...I was about to ask them to move but noticed the indicator above "Available" ! Had to stand for about half an hour till someone else got off , different seat. There were other reserved and occupied seats, just somehow XC had lost my reservation. Yes , I was in the right coach...
Yes that can happen on XC. When it happens you just have to accept it and do what you did.
I witnessed a rude bloke ejecting people from seats under such circumstances; he didn't like it when I embarrased him by pointing out the occupant was not obliged to move and that alternative seats were available.
They do not have a ticket valid for a journey in that seat - it should be the same rules as if you are on a train that the ticket is not valid on. If they refuse to leave, excess them the full price of a journey in that seat. Then if they refuse to pay or give details, BTP can be alerted.
Some of the ideas in this thread are truly unmanageable, such as this one! If you want to post such ideas, this should be posted in Speculative Discussion. It's not going to happen, simple as.
Thats my point: if the converse is true then companies will need to provide more seats or lose customers to road. People in need of seats should have a better system in place to guarantee them.
If someone is in
need of a seat, then generally speaking, depending on the route, they would either travel on a reserveable service and obtain a reservation (and if none are available then they can choose not to travel; if they were travelling by coach then the concept is largely the same) or they would take a non-reserveable train which would have priority seats.
... What are Guards actually for?
For operational stuff, mostly. Most (but not all) Guards are commercial but the core elements of the role called Guard are more about the operation of the train than anything else. In practice most TOCs with Guards would require a dual-purpose role, with an element of customer service being required, but that is secondary to operational requirements.
This is very different to the staff on TOCs such as Lumo who are not Guards and are there purely for customer service reasons.
Yeah I agree, the whole system needs re-vamping. I’ve never had issue when I ask people to move from priority seats that they’re not supposed to be in, just regular seats.
I think that wording it in this way is dangerous, and I can understand why you were challenged, however your later post makes much more sense.
I still somewhat disagree when they argue “I paid for THAT seat” when the seat reservation part is totally free.
True; they didn't pay for the
seat, but it's immaterial, really.
Not sure if you think it’s unacceptable that conductors prioritise their own safety when people are willing to assault you. I know guards that have been assaulted for relatively minor disputes.
If you do then, I’d encourage you to become a guard and see how much management thank you for getting assaulted and not just walking away (as we’re ALL told to do) or even see how happy they are when you delayed you’re train for 30 minutes whilst you fannied around arguing with some one over a seat reservation or a bike reservation or whether they have the correct ticket, because I promise you, they wouldn’t thank you for it and you’ll get the same amount of money in your pay check at the end of the month.
I’ve already said, I do (or have done in the past when applicable) my best to deal with these issues, but there is a clear line that I will not cross.
My wife certainly wouldn’t be happy with me if I came home with a bloodied nose either.
But regardless the ‘value’ of on train staff isn’t in enforcing seat reservations, it’s in safety.
Why people think it’s our job to baby sit grown adults, I will never understand ♂️
None of this negates the point
@AlterEgo was making, and indeed I refer you to
@LowLevel's excellent reply to your post, which is absoutely the right answer.
What I normally see is people with an advanced ticket who paid the bare minimum for the journey, comping about an individual In ‘their’ seat who has an off peak return and paid about 9 times the price, so who should really have the seat..
The price paid does not, should not and cannot influence any entitlement to a seat.
The Off Peak ticketholder could have booked an Advance and/or they could have reserved a seat. What they have paid extra for, is nothing to do with a seat, but simply the ability to catch alternative trains.
Anyone who has chosen that flexibility cannot reasonably expect a seat to be reserved/available/guaranteed (delete as appropriate!) for them on every possible train they could take; indeed the flexibility they have paid extra for is something you cannot buy at all on some modes of transport, such as (low-cost) airlines or (some/many) coaches.
They had booked seats on an Edinburgh to Kings Cross LNER train, but when they boarded, somebody was in one of their seats.
They politely asked the woman to move but she refused and it seems LNER didn't help
If the displays were working then the woman should have moved (and if not, then she was entitled not to) but, either way, if no alternative seat was available due to the train being completely full, and if on board staff were not in a position to find an alternative seat, resulting in the passenger standing for the duration, LNER would pay compensation to the full value of the journey.
