A passenger travelling from London to Aberdeen refused to give up a reserved first-class seat after an older woman demanded they move, prompting a guard to escort the woman to standard class. The traveller, who posted on Reddit, said they had booked the seat in advance for the roughly seven-hour journey to work in comfort.
The passenger explained they paid extra for first class partly to secure an “individual seat”, which avoids sitting next to or opposite anyone. “Certain trains have ‘individual seats’, which means you’re not sitting next to or opposite anyone. I specifically booked one of those seats to enable me to work,” they wrote.
Dispute over priority seat
After boarding in London, the traveller discovered their allocated seat also carried a “priority seat” label. Priority seats, typically at the end of a carriage, are intended for passengers with mobility issues due to age or disability.
Shortly afterwards, a woman the passenger estimated to be around 60 years old boarded and challenged them. “A woman got on after me who was around 60 years old and pointed at the sign above my head and, quite rudely, told me to move because she was elderly,” the passenger claimed.
The traveller told the woman the seat was booked and suggested she speak to a member of staff. “I told her I’d booked the seat and she’d need to speak to a member of staff to find her one,” they wrote. The woman replied that no other options were available because the train was full.
Guard intervenes
A member of staff then stepped in, asking whether either passenger would move to standard class if a seat could be found there. The first-class customer refused again, arguing they had planned ahead and paid for the space. In the end, the guard escorted the older woman to standard class, where the poster assumed she was found a seat.
Despite the resolution, the passenger admitted feeling uneasy. “I felt bad,” they wrote, “but I also don’t think I needed to put myself in severe discomfort because someone else didn’t think ahead and reserve a seat.”
Online reaction
Commenters largely backed the passenger, with some blaming the rail operator for allocating a priority seat as a reserved first-class option. Others criticised the woman for expecting someone to give up a seat they had paid for. One person wrote: “If it was a first-class seat on a plane and someone asked you to move to economy, you’d tell them to [shove] off.”
Another said: “The woman was [in the wrong] for thinking she was entitled to your reserved seat. Elderly or not, you paid in advance and shouldn’t have to move just because she showed up.”
