Removing a squatter from my reserved train seat

[Old Greg]

You should have had the foresight to reserve a seat.

He did. He just sat in a different seat to demonstrate the internal coherence of his position.

[SimonMac]

True story..

I reserve a seat on my morning train because the service is so packed it is usually standing room only.
If I don't reserve a seat I'd be waiting all day for a train where I can sit down. My commute is already over 1hr 45mins on a good day so I don't have the time to hang around like that.

9/10 times the crush of people boarding the train, combined with an already packed carriage means that I have to elbow myself past the rabble to get to my seat, but then there's always somebody chancing it and sitting in it hoping I never turn up.

So after the discomfort of getting to the seat, there's always my grimacing delivery of "sorry but seat 23 is mine". I show them the reservation card and they eventually get up looking at me with scowling eyes.

This week took the biscuit. It wasn't a pregnant woman, old person, or disabled person, but a man of faith.

I thought the guy looked fairly well dressed for a Vicar. He apologised and stood up smiling, but I thought nothing more of it once he was standing in the aisle pressed up against the sweaty commuters staring into their iPhones.

When I told my wife about it in the evening, she stood in shock when I described he was oldish, mostly bald, wearing a purple dog collar, and a large golden crucifix

She started going through Google images and I very quickly identified him.
He is only a Bishop! A fairly prominent one too that I'm convinced was on his way to the House of Lords.

Am I doomed? a marked man?... you know.. up there? <points>

A bishop? Did he move diagonally to the opposite corner of the train?

[Churchill]

He forgave me too, that makes me feel worse

Forgave you for what?

[d000hg]

But they didn't have a valid reservation. It's only a reservation if the reservation has been made.
How can the train company's **** up, and the other customers associated misfortune, suddenly be my problem?

The reservation is not a piece of paper stuck to your seat. The reservation has been made but they haven't made it obvious... if someone is on the right train with a reservation on their ticket, how can you say the reservation hasn't been made?

[Peoplesoft bloke]

I sat opposite my MP on a train out of the smoke recently. She had a reserved seat in standard class. She was way more foxy than she looks in publicity pics.

[CoolCat]

I sat opposite my MP on a train out of the smoke recently. She had a reserved seat in standard class. She was way more foxy than she looks in publicity pics.

yes the expenses rule change has forced MP's into standard class when on expenses

although MEP's and European commissioners still get to travel 1st, including Eurostar to Brussels which is full of them

[MicrosoftBob]

to punch you and then sit down again?

Seen that happen in Kent, which in turn held everyone up as the train stopped at the next station until the police arrived

[SpontaneousOrder]

There was an ancient Greek philosophical riddle about what happens when an unstoppable force meets an unmovable object. The answer is that the force stops and the object moves. If we apply this wisdom to this situation, then we understand that SO will indeed vacate the seat, but that GW is not going to take it.

Because as I'm forced to vacate the seat I'd do a tactical wee so that GW wouldn't want it anyway.

[SpontaneousOrder]

The reservation is not a piece of paper stuck to your seat. The reservation has been made but they haven't made it obvious... if someone is on the right train with a reservation on their ticket, how can you say the reservation hasn't been made?

It's definitely arguable that it has been made, but as far as I'm concerned it's a two part process. Just like driving without displaying a tax disc is an offence, even if you actually have a tax disc.

When it comes to giving the benefit of the doubt, I tend to give it to myself.

The only time it's happened to me before there was space in first class, so I went there and when the ticket guy kicked off I explained the situation, plainly refused and said that he's more than welcome to invite a police officer on board. None showed up. Train company got 2 fares and 1 happy customer and one slightly irritated customer.
The only way it could have been better is if they got 2 fares, and two happy customers.

[d000hg]

Your airplane seat doesn't tell you who it's reserved for, you rely on your ticket.

You're lucky that most people are too British to do much. One day some burly overworked chap will be delighted to have a reason to lift you out of the seat when invited to do so... Mich for instance