ivorytoast28
Member
So tonight I was at Woking hoping to board the 22:13 service to Haslemere. The train that pulled up was a 5 coach 458 that said "not in service" on the front. This is the first time I've seen a 458 on this route but I don't travel it all that often.
Anyway being only 5 carriages it was packed and standing as I joined the front carriage. There was an area to the left with blue seats (as opposed to the normal red) that had larger head rests. Passengers seemed to be assuming this to be first class as it was empty despite being an otherwise overloaded train. However, there was no indication at all that this was first class in terms of signage.
So my questions are:
What makes something first class? (Perhaps that is an obvious question but if a passenger has no way of telling whether it is first or standard then surely the passenger should not be penalised for assuming it is standard. What level of signage if any is required (there was none here))?
Was this first class or not? The arguments for it being first class is this service is advertised as having first class and these seats are visibly different from the rest of the train. The arguments against are that there is no indication via signage or announcements that it is.
Anyway being only 5 carriages it was packed and standing as I joined the front carriage. There was an area to the left with blue seats (as opposed to the normal red) that had larger head rests. Passengers seemed to be assuming this to be first class as it was empty despite being an otherwise overloaded train. However, there was no indication at all that this was first class in terms of signage.
So my questions are:
What makes something first class? (Perhaps that is an obvious question but if a passenger has no way of telling whether it is first or standard then surely the passenger should not be penalised for assuming it is standard. What level of signage if any is required (there was none here))?
Was this first class or not? The arguments for it being first class is this service is advertised as having first class and these seats are visibly different from the rest of the train. The arguments against are that there is no indication via signage or announcements that it is.
