Someone in your reserved seat

Has anyone here ever boarded a train only to find that someone was already sitting in their reserved seat? If so, did you say something to them and get them to move so you could sit in your seat, or did you bite your tongue and sit (or even stand) elsewhere?

AND what is the best course of action to take if someone will not move if you ask them to because they are in your reserved seat? Do you find and inform the train manager or do you argue with the person?

I had this situation once, but didn't say anything because I was too embarrassed to in front of lots of people. Was I wrong not to have said anything?

Been done before. Essentially you find another seat or get the guard to kick them out.

Overcrowed Train, No free seats, Elderly person sat in your reserved seat.

Our Rights: Reserved Seats Occupied (or) No Reservation Labels Displayed.

ScottMathew said:

Has anyone here ever boarded a train only to find that someone was already sitting in their reserved seat? If so, did you say something to them and get them to move so you could sit in your seat, or did you bite your tongue and sit (or even stand) elsewhere?

AND what is the best course of action to take if someone will not move if you ask them to because they are in your reserved seat? Do you find and inform the train manager or do you argue with the person?

I had this situation once, but didn't say anything because I was too embarrassed to in front of lots of people. Was I wrong not to have said anything?

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If there are other equivalent/suitable unreserved seats then occupy them instead. You are entitled to your reserved seat so mention it to the offending passengers. If they refuse to move then approach staff with your problem, do not get into arguments/confrontation yourself as it could very easily escalate to being physical.

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 !!

The one time I had someone try to not move from my reserved seat, a priority seat (booked deliberately because I was recovering from a broken ankle) from Coleshill to Leicester, I simply told the person occupying my seat that he could either move or get me sitting on his knee. He moved with remarkable haste.

On a similar twist to this thread, if the seat next to you is vacant ... and a 'unwelcoming' type passenger is hovering about looking like they may decide to sit next to you [and you would rather they did not] .... simply pat the empty seat base, wink & nod inviting them to join you ..... and they will more than likely pass you by and move on !!!

Back to thread however, use your discretion is best advice, if its an elderly person, best not to cause them too much effort in moving, if its a mum-to-be, again best not to. Member of the lower escerlons working class [like me] ...ask them to move!!

The answer to the first part is obvious: Just point out politely and nicely that you have a reservation, it has never failed for me!

If they refuse to move, point to the reservation label and show your reservation and give them the choice of moving or you'll refer the matter to the guard.

I have never witnessed any dispute over seats that I can recall, except where reservations are not in force (or in the case of XC who have an invisible reservation policy).

I have seen some misunderstandings, such as people boarding the wrong train, or going to the wrong coach.

I have encountered various versions of this:

a) Somebody in my seat. Train not busy. I sat elsewhere.
b) Somebody in my seat. Train busy. I asked them to move and they did.
c) Train so busy it was physically impossible to board the coach in which my reservation was held. Train Manager permitted use of First Class

I say offer them out at the next station. Sitting in anothers reserved seat is a crime so base as to demand satisfaction.

Do you really need advice on asking, politely, the chap in your seat to move?

Had it happen just the once, I just said "Hi I'm really sorry but I have reserved this seat" and he was fine with it and just apologized straight away and I told him not to worry. If there was an elderly person there it is slightly different, I would give up my reserved seat for an elderly or disabled person if they had nowhere to sit, but if one was already there I would just leave it, petty to ask them to move unless in rare circumstances/

ATWalex101 said:

Had it happen just the once, I just said "Hi I'm really sorry but I have reserved this seat" and he was fine with it and just apologized straight away and I told him not to worry.

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Same here in all cases I can recall.

If it's a non-stop train and there are seats elsewhere I will definitely sit elsewhere. If it calls at a lot of stops where I think it could get busy and I have a good seat reserved then would be less inclined to sit elsewhere.

On a non-stop train recently, a bay of 2 seats was unreserved but a bloke insisted on making a woman move from a window seat to make way for him, when she ended up next to him, he pointed her in the direction of the 2 spare seats. Needless to say, the original solution seemed obvious to me from the start!! I had the prime HST seat - they go fast on East Coast now you can pick your own seat.

I'd also never dream of turfing someone out if the reservations were not in force, it really annoys me when some people try to play "musical chairs" and seem to delight in inconveniencing people and acting unreasonably.

Only time I have had a problem with someone sat in my seat, was when me and my mum used XC between Peterborough and New Street, We had two seats booked next to eachother at a table, we boarded and found one seat occupied, and an unbooked on the opposite side of the table occupied as well, we just sat opposite each other, as the people who had booked were only going as far as Oakham and Melton, and so we soon moved next to each other.

ScottMathew said:

Has anyone here ever boarded a train only to find that someone was already sitting in their reserved seat? If so, did you say something to them and get them to move so you could sit in your seat, or did you bite your tongue and sit (or even stand) elsewhere?

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This has happened to me many times, but every time people have moved without question. Perhaps I've been lucky, but I've generally found fellow passengers to be pretty decent on the whole.

gnolife said:

I simply told the person occupying my seat that he could either move or get me sitting on his knee. He moved with remarkable haste.

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A very rude woman said to me once on a Voyager that she would sit down regardless, and she did - on the table.

She missed her booked origin by a long way and I am certainly not going to be playing "musical chairs".

Teaboy1 said:

On a similar twist to this thread, if the seat next to you is vacant ... and a 'unwelcoming' type passenger is hovering about looking like they may decide to sit next to you [and you would rather they did not] .... simply pat the empty seat base, wink & nod inviting them to join you ..... and they will more than likely pass you by and move on !!!

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You realise that it can backfire spectacularly, don't you, especially if you run in to someone like me, who can figure out in an instant what you are up to?

Even if not, I enjoy getting familiar with people anyway.

I don't make the infirm or those more in need of the seat move, even if there are no other seats available. It is bad manners in my eyes.

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.

Of course on a busy service I would adopt a less relaxed attitude, but the guy's short-sighted pedantry in this case amused me a bit.

I had a situation on a busy Virgin Voyager from Euston to Holyhead where someone was in my window seat. Slightly oddly, the simple conversation of them asking to swap aisle and window seats (which I accepted, as they needed the power socket and I didn't) led to a very interesting chat with them all the way from somewhere adjacent to Queens Park through to Rhyl, which was an unexpected bonus, as we ended up finding a lot to say on the subjects of Wales (politics, general landscape, history, etc.), extreme sports, computer glitches, Virgin, and the contents of the onboard magazine (or lack thereof).

Most other times, I've just moved to an equivalent seat. If another one is not available, I tend to use the "very polite but firm enough" approach. It works fine.

Many years ago, mid 70's, I had a reserved seat on a Bradford - King's Cross service. I got on the train to find a man of the purplish cloth with a largish cross sitting in my seat. I decided not to say anything and to sit on the other side of the table opposite him. As I recall, the train pulled into Leeds where the train changed direction, and there was a look of consternation on his face. "Oh dear, I do hate travelling backwards, could we change seats?". Of course we did.

I ended up having a most wonderful conversation with Eric Treacy, the Bishop of Wakefield (the railway Bishop) all the way to London.

Would it alter people's reaction to find someone famous in their reserved seat ?
Would it make you more or less likely to confront them depending on who it was ?

(and if Mike Tyson refused to move from your seat ....?)

Seat reservations is a topic that I feel very strongly about. If I know a service is going to be busy, then I'll go to a ticket office and reserve a seat the day before. I know that I have a seat for that journey, so I have no problem.

Unfortunately, about a month ago I travelled on the 1713 Bristol Temple M to Paignton service. Despite the fact the Cheltenham races were on, CrossCountry still thought that a single 220 would be enough capacity for this service, even though on non-race days this service is still particularly busy as its peak time out of Bristol. I was travelling with a friend and we were booked for the two window seats opposite a table, one backwards one forwards. We were travelling to Exeter. When I got on the train, three out of the four seats across the table were occupied. One guy was facing backwards and was fast asleep and I woke him up and said he was in my friend’s seat and he moved. The two other people sat opposite in both forward facing seats were a young couple travelling from Tamworth to Newton Abbot; they were in the right seating area but not in the correct seats. They were booked for the two aisle seats across the table. However they thought they were next to each other. I politely told the male who was sat on the outside that he was in the wrong seat and asked him to go to the correct seat; unfortunately, he was very drunk (this was in the Quiet Zone as well!). He said 'I'm not being funny but can you show me evidence as I'm not a good mood as it is'. I told I wasn’t either and I showed him our seat reservation ticket and he said okay. He then asked where exactly we were supposed to be sat. I told him the two window seats, pointing at them. He failed to grasp that he and his partner were supposed to be in the aisle seats, even though I showed him the seating plan above and the reservations on the overhead racks. As the train was already running about ten minutes late and this ''debate'' between myself and this male companion was going on for at least five minutes, people were still trying to get on the train so I said 'Look, we'll sit on the outside instead, but you need to know what you're doing next time''. It did make sense in the end as we were getting off before them so it was better to sit on the outside. The guy had moved opposite his partner at this point. However, we then ended up striking a ''friendship'' (if you could call it that) and he was talking general rubbish as he was so drunk! In the end I said we were getting off at Taunton and moved to the next coach as I'd had enough at this point!! I noticed that he’d had seven cans of Stella since Birmingham!

I get increasingly annoyed with people who sit in your reserved seat, despite the fact that there is a white label sticking out of the seat saying it's reserved. On my usual train I tend to reserve the same seat, where possible, and I know where it is in the carriage when I board. I caught one businessman one day looking at the reservation on my seat as I was getting on and making my way to it, and he read the reservation label, but continued to sit in it anyway! When I told him it was my seat, he acted all innocent and said 'oh, sorry, I completely misread'. Rubbish!

In fairness, I'm a little more forgiving for elderly or disabled passengers or pregnant women, but for people who just sit there anyway really do annoy me. I have to admit, I’m particularly fussy as I can’t travel backwards and I do need a window seat as I get claustrophobic in the aisles and like to rest my body against the window slightly, but even so.

Mutant Lemming said:

Would it alter people's reaction to find someone famous in their reserved seat ?
Would it make you more or less likely to confront them depending on who it was ?

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In the mid 80s my mother and I had seats reserved Fort William to Euston on the sleeper. As a bridge had been washed away between FW and Crianlarich the previous northbound sleeper had run to Oban instead of FW and we were taken down to Crianlarich by bus to join the southbound service. There I found a certain red-haired Member of Parliament who eventually became leader of his party sitting in my seat, waiting for the sleeper attendant from Fort William to finish preparing the sleeper berths.

As the seats across the aisle were empty we sat there for about 15 minutes until the honourable gentleman left us to move into the sleeper.

What's the rule if a train is withdrawn from service and merged with a later train and as a consequence the seat reservations on the later train are rendered null and void? Are the seats fair game, I.e. first come first served.

This happened to me a couple of years back on an EC service departing the cross.

Kryten2340 said:

What's the rule if a train is withdrawn from service and merged with a later train and as a consequence the seat reservations on the later train are rendered null and void? Are the seats fair game, I.e. first come first served.

This happened to me a couple of years back on an EC service departing the cross.

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In that case it is "first come first served" I'm afraid.

Seat reservations on the cancelled service is obviously null and void, however seat reservations for the next service may not be. It is a decision for the crew to make.

Most times that I've found someone already in my reserved seat a quiet and polite request resulted in the correct seating arrangements - I'll make exceptions for elderly / infirm etc but loud mouthed drunks get short shift and if required the guard will be asked to assist (in one memorable case BTP were needed as the guy was already being abusive to everyone before I arrived at my seat, and this was in a quiet coach as well)

StoneRoad said:

BTP were needed as the guy was already being abusive to everyone before I arrived at my seat, and this was in a quiet coach as well)

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Sounds like the train I was on!

Mutant Lemming said:

Would it alter people's reaction to find someone famous in their reserved seat ?
Would it make you more or less likely to confront them depending on who it was ?

(and if Mike Tyson refused to move from your seat ....?)

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For me i would still most likely ask them to move.

For me, i always nicely ask people to move if it is possible, only had two who showed off a bit.

One lady didn't think the seat i had reserved was and was hers (Mine was booked for Window seat) but slowly did move, and got off at Crewe.

Another lady asked her to move her suitcase from the seat and she did grudgenly and gave me evil looks all the way to Carlisle (Free seats from Preston though)

Both as guessed on Virgin Birmingham - Edinburgh Services.

Chris

Kryten2340 said:

What's the rule if a train is withdrawn from service and merged with a later train and as a consequence the seat reservations on the later train are rendered null and void? Are the seats fair game, I.e. first come first served.

This happened to me a couple of years back on an EC service departing the cross.

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...and it happened to me as well!

I had a reserved seat from Newcastle to Kings Cross. At Doncaster, we were told that we would be delayed there for 10 minutes to cover for a cancelled Leeds to Kings Cross service. In effect, the train BECAME the Leeds service but from Donny. We stopped at Grantham, where 2 young women got on. They came up to my seat and asked that I vacate it, as they had reserved it and the seat next door (they had reservation tickets). I pointed out the reservation ticket stuck into the slot behind the head-rest, plus my reservation ticket. They were unmoved and one of them started to get blood annoyed and DEMANDED that I get out of "...their..." seat otherwise they would get the guard. I was incandescent with anger at this point and said "A bloody good idea, get the guard" with as much bile as I could manage. They disappeared off, and I didn't see them or the guard again.
Admittedly, my attitude was probably a bit hard, but her attitude wasn't much better. We had both made reservations, but there was a clash due to 2 trains merging into one, which was done by GNER (as it was then). I suspect the 2 women were put up in first class.

Teaboy1 said:

On a similar twist to this thread, if the seat next to you is vacant ... and a 'unwelcoming' type passenger is hovering about looking like they may decide to sit next to you [and you would rather they did not] .... simply pat the empty seat base, wink & nod inviting them to join you ..... and they will more than likely pass you by and move on !!!

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If I have my Springer Spaniel with me I just say "search drugs girl" as I get on. Plenty of room to sit down when all the teenagers move to the next carriage

I'll only kick someone out of my reserved seat if there is no better unreserved one available, which there often is (for instance, that aligns better with a window).

Yeah I did, but there was a seat in front free so just sat there. It was the 21:30 from reading to plymouth was was pretty empty.

I don't think I'm the type of person to actually say can you get out my seat.

I had that last April. A middle-aged woman was sitting in my reserved seat when I got on a service between Liverpool Street and Norwich. Fortuantly, there was plenty of unreserved seats in the carriage, so I just sat in one of those. Better window seat as well.