Booked Rail Seats,

HooCanTellMee

Hi to all,
New to posting so please tell me if what I do is wrong! Recently booked seats for long rail journey for OAP and Teenager, both were fine except the seats booked were occupied! Despite having been booked in advance people refused to move. Despite elderly lady asking politely! There were other seats and these were then used, but is there any point in booking if reserved seat notices are totally ignored? Even travel assistant said this was normal, and although she could move people out of booked seats, there was little that could be done if you were trying to get your booked seat without official help. Ticket collectors are few and far between, and elderly people are unlikely to wander the train looking for help, especially if it means leaving their luggage! I know I could complain to the train operator, but surely there should be a better way, even if it is only to tell people that a seat booked does not necessarily mean you will get it! How about fining people for taking a pre-booked seat. Or a means of getting help, maybe a way of contacting the ticket collector, perhaps a buzzer. Exta work to be paid for by offender! Hoping this post will get rid of my frustration, I feel guilty, talked Mother-In-Law into trip, said it was all sorted! Still getting my ear bent!

Mk14:37

It's a sad reflection of society today - there is little honour or sense of social responsibility left. People simply say, what will you do about it? As an individual you have little or no authority and need to invoke the authority of the ticket inspector / train manager / whatever. Write a letter of complaint to the train company and suggest that they install a means of summoning the train manager as per your post.

moonrakerz

HooCanTellMee wrote: »

How about fining people for taking a pre-booked seat.

It IS indeed a sad reflection of society today !

I did like your comment above. After all the ill-informed media hoo-ha about the learned professor being "fined £155" for getting off the train "one stop early" - I imagine the Daily Mail et al would just love to run an even bigger headline:

"Pensioner fined £155 for sitting in wrong seat"

I can see it now :D

marleyboy

I would have made it my duty to report them to the ticket inspector the moment they refused to move, if he was too far along the carriage I would have waited for the first opportunity to speak to him the moment he appeared. The times I have been on trains with no available seats, frustratingly staring at empty "reserved" seats.

Had I been the ticket inspector, removing them from the seats would have been the least of their problems, I would have ejected them from the train at the very next stop.

musicmaker29

with any system, if people want to be rude and break the rules, they will - no amount of legislation will alter that. Some people are just idiots!

scottishblondie

I once had to stand on a train for 4 hours because my seat - booked well in advance at a table next to a plug so I could work during the journey - was occupied by someone who had bought a ticket that day with no seat allocation. The train was full, and the conductor said that he wouldn't be asking anyone to move because it would just be too difficult. A complaint to the train operator got me nowhere, other than a very insipid "sorry for your inconvenience". It's one of many reasons I've more or less stopped using trains when there is any other alternative.

heretolearn_2

scottishblondie - you should have sat on them!:-)

I hate this. Well, I don't mind people sitting in reserved seats that are empty - sometimes seats are reserved for only part of the journey but the reserved ticket is there for the whole thing, and it seems silly to have people standing while there are empty seats. But if I turn up with my reservation, I expect to get my seat and if people won't move at a polite request, I'll blooming well make them move. If I have to stand and sing Tom Jones songs off-key at loud volume in their ears, I will.

dave_ave

marleyboy wrote: »

The times I have been on trains with no available seats, frustratingly staring at empty "reserved" seats.

There's no need to look at empty reserved seats. If they are reserved from A to F (via B, C, D and E) and you got on at A or B and the seats were not taken, I would sit down.

No need to let the seats stay empty the whole journey. You often find train conductors will remove the reserved ticket once the 'from' station has been passed.

Rosemary7391

I have to say I've found people usually move if you ask them too, I certainly do. It is also annoying when people reserve seats and don't take them - I've got up at the stop a seat is reserved from before, only for no one to come.