A woman traveling on business from London to Aberdeen in the UK refused to give her first-class seat to an elderly woman because she claimed she had booked her seat in advance so she could travel in comfort.
All people deserve equal rights, that is something that is very clear in society. However, other factors must be taken into account in order to understand that some people deserve special treatment on the street, such as the elderly, pregnant women or someone with a health problem since their condition makes them more vulnerable.
This is why public transport often has reserved seats for these types of people, in addition to the recommendation to offer any other seat that is occupied to someone in these conditions. However, the latter isn’t always welcomed by everyone, and one woman in the UK shared her discontent in this regard, following a case that happened to her.
As she told on the social media platform Reddit, the user identified as @Optimal_Promotion879 said that she had recently taken a train from London to Aberdeen, so she bought a ticket with a guaranteed seat to travel comfortably.
“It’s a seven-hour journey, so I booked myself a first-class seat well in advance. First-class seats on trains in the UK can be expensive, but I decided to treat myself because I was making the journey the day after returning from a two-week work trip abroad and I knew I’d be exhausted, totally unable to function,” she recounted.
“I knew I’d have work to do on the train, so I wanted to make sure I had space/comfort to be able to work,” she added.
By making sure she got a single seat with room to work in comfort, she didn’t think she would have a problem. However, the complications started from the moment she was assigned a “priority” seat because that was all that was left. However, her reservation was respected, and she was able to be seated without a problem without having to give the seat to anyone else.
However, she ran into something she didn’t expect: an elderly woman showed up demanding the seat because she claimed it was for senior citizens. “ A woman got on after me who was around sixty-years old and pointed at the sign above my head and, quite rudely, told me to move because she was elderly,” she recounted.
“I told her I’d booked the seat and she’d need to speak to a member of staff to find her one. She pointed out that the train was full (even first class was full) and there were no other seats. I apologized but reiterated that I’d booked the seat and wasn’t going to move,” she continued.
“Eventually, a train guard came over to try to help. The lady had booked a return ticket, but she hadn’t reserved a specific seat. For those who don’t know how trains work in the UK, if you have an “open ticket” and haven’t also booked a seat reservation, it means you can travel on any train, but you aren’t guaranteed a seat unless there’s one available,” she detailed.
That’s when the worker asked those present in first class if they wanted to give up their seat for the woman, but no one accepted. So, the woman had to find a seat in regular class.
