Don’t mess with reserved seats on European trains, trust me.

I remember coming back from Oktoberfest, hungover as anything, only to lift my head up to a very angry german family staring daggers at my friends for sitting in seats they had reserved.

Cue the awkward shuffling from my friends and exaggerated huffing from the Germans, who were muttering what I can only assume was German for:

“They’re reserved for a reason! Stupid Americans!” Ok, maybe they said that last bit in English!

The only reaction we had was tucking our tails between our legs, but when this man had his seat stolen on a train to London, he had a genius response that left the conductor speechless!

Check it out!

Apparently booking a seat on a train is not a real booking if someone else decides to sit there.

I was travelling from Edinburgh to London by train and had a booked window seat with a table.

I got on the train to find 4 guys sitting at the table, the one in my seat that was clearly marked as booked, refused to move as he was with his friends and the train was packed.

The ticket collector passed and I asked him to help.

But the collector was about as helpful as a concrete life vest!

He asked the guy to move but he refused and somehow that was that.

“So what now?” I asked

“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.”

Thanks for the effort, man! If a literal employee of the train can’t get someone to move, then who can?

But all wasn’t lost, as OP had an idea to use the collector’s own words against him!

“I’m going to take a seat in first class” – better surroundings, power sockets and free tea and coffee.

“You can’t sit there, you don’t have a booking”

“Well, you could call the police to move me but apparently they won’t turn out to move someone out of a seat”

I had a lovely trip with power for my laptop and a wide comfy seat.

I wish I knew getting a good train seat in the EU was as easy as refusing to move! I would have been in first class with OP the second the doors opened!

Reddit loved this, but many said train conductors in their country would have handled things very differently!

Other wondered how the staff of the train couldn’t enforce their own rules.

This former train worker said often police would be waiting at the next stop for unruly passengers!

And the story reminded this manager of his own seating troubles.

And finally, this user shared her own seating frustration on the train to London!

Just remember, the London ticket collectors are pushovers, but I wouldn’t push your luck anywhere other than that, especially Germany!

Want to read another story where somebody got satisfying revenge? Check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.