Brit baffled by train inspector not being able to do anything about passenger sitting in his booked seat

A train passenger was left reeling after being told that the ticket inspector refused to move a fellow passenger who had sat in his pre-booked seat.

For anyone who has the misfortune of having to rely on trains to get around, you’ll know that bagging yourself a seat isn’t always the easiest of tasks.

However, a couple of years back - one bloke reckoned he was sorted after booking his ticket in advance and being given a designated seat.

Upon arriving on the train, the fella noticed someone was sitting in his pre-booked seat - a window seat with a table - and refused to move.

In a post on Reddit, the man explained that there were four men taking up the block of seats around the table and weren’t keen on the idea of moving.

The man then spotted a ticket inspector and flagged him down for help - but he was left shocked after ‘he asked the guy to move but he refused and somehow that was that’.

The man claims he asked the inspector what happened now, and was told: “You can find another seat but I have no power to move him, only the police and move him and they will not turn up just to move someone out of a seat."

Pexels/Daniel Frese

The passenger explained how he looked around and saw the carriage was completely full, meaning he was faced with the possibility of having to stand for the entirety of the journey.

Rather than battling against the four seat hijackers or crying and standing in the corner, he decided to hack the system too.

At this point, the man decided that he would use a similar tactic as the passenger in his seat and told the ticket inspector: "I'm going to take a seat in first class.”

The ticket inspector responded: "You can't sit there, you don't have a booking."

Alas, the inspector's words were rendered useless by the earlier incident.

"Well, you could call the police to move me but apparently they won't turn out to move someone out of a seat," the traveller told the member of staff.

He victoriously concluded: "I had a lovely trip with power for my laptop and a wide comfy seat."

Brits have - as would be expected - leapt to the comments in absolute outrage over the scenario.

"How do the staff not have the authority though? You agree to follow their instructions when you buy a ticket. Doesn't seem like they should require police to enforce basic rules," one questioned.

However, another clarified: "You agree to their terms of buying a ticket, but the staff don't have any more legal power over you.

"If you don't move or leave when asked, the only people that can force you to comply are the police because individual citizens do not have the right to apply physical force to one another.

"Reasonable force is a right that all citizens have, including rail workers, but rail workers don't have any more right to use physical force than that provision.

"Therefore, if physical force is required to enforce rail regulations, rail workers will call for police assistance."

LADbible previously contacted Network Rail and the British Transport Police for comment.

Topics: Reddit, UK News, Travel

Claire Reid

Claire is a journalist at LADbible who, after dossing around for a few years, went to Liverpool John Moores University. She graduated with a degree in Journalism and a whole load of debt. When not writing words in exchange for money she is usually at home watching serial killer documentaries surrounded by cats. You can contact Claire at [email protected]