A wonderful example of table colonisation

[Hellfire]

The other morning on a southbound Pendolino I was sitting across the aisle from a man who arrived at an empty four seated table. He then proceeded to

1. Hang his overcoat on the hook by the RH window seat
2. Put his bag on the LH window seat.
3. Placed his laptop on the table in front of the LH window seat
4. Went to the service point and came back with two glasses of orange juice. One he drank himself, the other he put on the RH aisle seat opposite him together with his notebook and phone so giving the impression that seat was occupied.
5 Rearranged the crockery on the table by the RH window seat, again to make it look as if someone was sitting there. Finally took off his jacket and hung it on the hook by the LH window seat. I'd taken the picture by then.

Unfortunately no one came along looking for a seat who might have been able to call his bluff

 

[Greenback]

I must confess I have a certain admiration for the lengths he was prepared to go to in order to convince the causal passer by that he had a friend.

Mind you, that wouldn't have stopped me grassing him up at the first opportunity...

 

[WatcherZero]

You sure he wasnt being joined by a friend at a later station?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Is this not a route where seat reservations are available?

 

[Hellfire]

There wasn't a later station. By the time I took the picture we were pulling out of Warrington BQ non-stop to Euston
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Is this not a route where seat reservations are available?

They certainly are. It's not so much he was stopping people sitting there if they had needed to, just the lengths he went to.

This was in 1st as the more astute of you will have gathered from the photo

 

[anti-pacer]

Maybe he has an imaginary friend!

 

[Bantamzen]

I would have waited until he left his seat to go to the loo or for drinks & then found the guard and reported suspicious packages being left around a table of four with only one person occupying them....

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

It's not so much he was stopping people sitting there if they had needed to, just the lengths he went to.

In the vast myriad of railway byelaws, is there a named specific offence that has been committed by one person preventing the use of the other three seats by the action stated if he only had one journey ticket?

 

[Bantamzen]

In the vast myriad of railway byelaws, is there a named specific offence that has been committed by one person preventing the use of the other three seats by the action stated if he only had one journey ticket?

I don't know about that, but I have been known to enquire of some fellow travellers if they have procured the requisite number of tickets for the number of seats they've chosen to occupy.

 

[6Gman]

Maybe he has an imaginary friend!

Maybe there was somebody there, but Hellfire has funny eyesight!

 

[Howardh]

Don't Virgin's first class seats look grubby??

 

[CyrusWuff]

"Of course you can have exclusive use of a table Sir. That'll be £1329.00 please."

"It's a national policy Sir. Exclusive use is charged at six times the undiscounted fare for the journey."

 

[WelshBluebird]

While I get the point that it is annoying, if the train was empty enough that there was a fully empty 4 person seat, and there were no more stations to call at on route, does it really actually matter??

 

[Minilad]

What is more annoying is people that reserve seats then don't take them up. Especially bad on peak trains out of EUS I find

 

[WatcherZero]

The TPE Scotland trains are terrible for it, virtually no one actually sits in reserved seats though I blame lack of gangways between units, you board and your committed to that unit unless you want to make a run along the platform at a later stop.

 

[Starmill]

Since when has it been difficult to get a table of four to yourself in First on a Pendolino?
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The TPE Scotland trains are terrible for it, virtually no one actually sits in reserved seats though I blame lack of gangways between units, you board and your committed to that unit unless you want to make a run along the platform at a later stop.

Lack of gangways on TPE Scotland trains?

 

[bnm]

So, with no more station calls, what exactly is wrong with spreading out a bit?

 

[Hellfire]

While I get the point that it is annoying, if the train was empty enough that there was a fully empty 4 person seat, and there were no more stations to call at on route, does it really actually matter??

No it doesn't. I'm not complaining about him, just amused.

 

[IanD]

What is more annoying is people that reserve seats then don't take them up. Especially bad on peak trains out of EUS I find

And this forum encourages people on Advance tickets to do this.

 

[edwin_m]

People on walk-up tickets are allowed one seat reservation in each direction, but they probably wouldn't have got a walk-up ticket if they didn't have some doubt about which train they would be on especially for the return journey. So it's not surprising that many seats will be reserved but not taken, and as far as I'm aware there is absolutely no problem occupying one after departure except a small chance the owner will show up.

The companies don't help themselves either by packing all the reserved seats into one part of the train, so people may see some much better unreserved seats and sit there instead.

It can be annoying when someone manages to occupy a whole table and there are only airline seats available. This happened to me on a Pendolino when someone interrupted their mobile conversation to tell me I couldn't put my laptop on "his" table. As the conversation appeared to be threatening his ex with legal and other consequences if she didn't agree to whatever he wanted, I thought discretion was the better part of valour at that point!

 

[Robertj21a]

And this forum encourages people on Advance tickets to do this.

Most people do it because the allocated seat is not what the passenger requested, or it's in a carriage crammed full while others are part empty.

 

[bramling]

The other morning on a southbound Pendolino I was sitting across the aisle from a man who arrived at an empty four seated table. He then proceeded to

1. Hang his overcoat on the hook by the RH window seat
2. Put his bag on the LH window seat.
3. Placed his laptop on the table in front of the LH window seat
4. Went to the service point and came back with two glasses of orange juice. One he drank himself, the other he put on the RH aisle seat opposite him together with his notebook and phone so giving the impression that seat was occupied.
5 Rearranged the crockery on the table by the RH window seat, again to make it look as if someone was sitting there. Finally took off his jacket and hung it on the hook by the LH window seat. I'd taken the picture by then.

Unfortunately no one came along looking for a seat who might have been able to call his bluff

A little extreme, but it's not exactly weird to hope for a table to yourself, especially if you've paid quite a bit of money for a ticket. If you could rely on all potential passengers to behave with just a bit of consideration for others then maybe people wouldn't feel the need to do this.

 

[Greenback]

No it doesn't. I'm not complaining about him, just amused.

My sentiments exactly!

And this forum encourages people on Advance tickets to do this.

Most people do it because the allocated seat is not what the passenger requested, or it's in a carriage crammed full while others are part empty.

Quite right. And that's why I have no problem at all with people who don't take up their reserved seat on the day. It's up to the TOC to sort it out if they want to. I have no compulsion in sitting in a vacant seat if it appears to be unoccupied, it;s always worth looking at the reservation to see if the seat is actually free for the journey that I'm doing.

I think that the failure of electronic displays is more of an issue than where people sit.

 

[DelayRepay]

People on walk-up tickets are allowed one seat reservation in each direction, but they probably wouldn't have got a walk-up ticket if they didn't have some doubt about which train they would be on especially for the return journey. So it's not surprising that many seats will be reserved but not taken, and as far as I'm aware there is absolutely no problem occupying one after departure except a small chance the owner will show up.

Online booking engines don't really help with this as they book you a seat by default. The site my work makes me use won't let me book a ticket without booking a seat (so it can report to my boss if I've not been booking the cheapest ticket!) - yet the usual reason for me booking flexible tickets is I don't know exactly what time I'll be travelling.

 

[Greenback]

When I faced that problem, I simply booked an Advance for a later train that I was pretty sure I could catch, then claimed the time for sitting around drinking tea or having a look around.

It's probably not the ideal strategy for everyone, but it worked well for me as I built up lots of time owed which I could take at my convenience. My employers didn't seem unhappy either.

 

[SamYeager]

The site my work makes me use won't let me book a ticket without booking a seat

I've run into this issue as well. What was even worse with a previous system was that it didn't give me the option of selecting the quiet coach (FGW). As a result I hardly ever used the reserved seat unless the quiet coach was full.

 

[DelayRepay]

When I faced that problem, I simply booked an Advance for a later train that I was pretty sure I could catch, then claimed the time for sitting around drinking tea or having a look around.

It's probably not the ideal strategy for everyone, but it worked well for me as I built up lots of time owed which I could take at my convenience. My employers didn't seem unhappy either.

My boss doesn't mind me buying the flexible ticket - the problem is more that the system forces me to make reservations I don't need. The public sites also steer you towards reserving a seat, which is probably why so many reservations are not used.

 

[yorksrob]

And this forum encourages people on Advance tickets to do this.

Quite right to. Frankly, the SW trains system whereby advance passengers are restricted to a train but not a seat is far preferable.

 

[Greenback]

My boss doesn't mind me buying the flexible ticket - the problem is more that the system forces me to make reservations I don't need. The public sites also steer you towards reserving a seat, which is probably why so many reservations are not used.

My bosses wouldn't have complained if I'd bought a flexible ticket, I did sometimes, but they didn't mind if I saved them money either. When I did have a flexible ticket, it came with a reservation automatically, just like you, but I wasn't bothered about not using it as I don't think people not taking them up is a real problem.

 

[IanD]

Quite right to. Frankly, the SW trains system whereby advance passengers are restricted to a train but not a seat is far preferable.

Far preferable for you maybe. If my ticket forces me to use a particular train, I'd rather have a seat reservation than having to take pot luck, particularly as I'm usually travelling long distances and have to join mid-route at Milton Keynes and/or change somewhere en route to a service that is likely to be busy.