Rules about reserved seats

[merry]

Of course, all this discussion of reservation validity depends on whether you can access the reserved seat...
...a few years ago, I had a reserved seat on a midweek ATW train from Chester to Holyhead in June. On (40 min late) arrival at Chester, the train was already over-full, and many more of us boarded. I and my flightcase managed to fit into the lobby with 4 other people, including a 2-man outside broadcast crew and their gear!
But access to the actual train saloon and seats was a total pipe dream. How anyone else boarded or climbed out, i don't know.
I will add that this was perhaps one of the 5 most crowded trains i have used in 40 years (others being overnight sleeper seating cars Warrington-Fort Bill & Edinburgh-Preston, both of which were "full and lying down everywhere", and Tokyo surburban trains) so perhaps therefore unrepresentative, but it's an interesting extreme case.
What is the score with reservations when you can't even access the putative reserved seat (and i fully expect and hope that someone used it)? Is that just a case for compensation when you have to stand? ...but of course, the guard couldn't check tickets let alone be accessed to endorse the ticket. How could that work, i wonder?

 

[krus_aragon]

Of course, all this discussion of reservation validity depends on whether you can access the reserved seat...
...a few years ago, I had a reserved seat on a midweek ATW train from Chester to Holyhead in June. On (40 min late) arrival at Chester, the train was already over-full, and many more of us boarded. I and my flightcase managed to fit into the lobby with 4 other people, including a 2-man outside broadcast crew and their gear!
But access to the actual train saloon and seats was a total pipe dream. How anyone else boarded or climbed out, i don't know.
I will add that this was perhaps one of the 5 most crowded trains i have used in 40 years (others being overnight sleeper seating cars Warrington-Fort Bill & Edinburgh-Preston, both of which were "full and lying down everywhere", and Tokyo surburban trains) so perhaps therefore unrepresentative, but it's an interesting extreme case.
What is the score with reservations when you can't even access the putative reserved seat (and i fully expect and hope that someone used it)? Is that just a case for compensation when you have to stand? ...but of course, the guard couldn't check tickets let alone be accessed to endorse the ticket. How could that work, i wonder?

I believe that most TOCs' guards are expected to report to their control when a service they're operating is "full and standing". Your request could be cross-referenced against these records: if they know the train was overcrowded, then fine, they'd process the request.

 

[Deerfold]

LNER have pulled a blinder today.
One train from Leeds cancelled. The next had no reservations at Leeds or Wakefield and is very busy. However they've appeared on the screens by Doncaster so people who get on are obviously expecting to sit in their reserved seats...

 

[Bletchleyite]

LNER have pulled a blinder today.
One train from Leeds cancelled. The next had no reservations at Leeds or Wakefield and is very busy. However they've appeared on the screens by Doncaster so people who get on are obviously expecting to sit in their reserved seats...

This happens on XC all the time. If they were off at any point in the journey, guards need to switch them off and make regular announcements that they don't apply. GWR seem good at this, others much less so.