Hundreds of people are rallying behind a train passenger in the U.K. who refused to give up her seat so an older woman could sit down.
The unidentified 32-year-old passenger said she coughed up extra money to pay for a first-class seat for her recent trip from London to Aberdeen, booking it well in advance of her trip, The Mirror reported.
The woman explained on Reddit that first-class carriages in the U.K. have individual seats where the space is entirely your own and you can spread out over a little table.
"I specifically booked one of those seats to enable me to work," she wrote.
When the woman boarded the train for her seven-hour journey, however, she discovered she had been placed in a "priority seat," which is generally reserved for elderly, sick or disabled people.
"At no point was I aware this was a priority seat before getting on the train," she said. "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."
However, in spite of the 60-year-old's best efforts, the woman in the seat refused to budge.
"I told her I'd booked the seat and she'd need to speak to a member of staff to find her one," the woman explained. "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."
Staff members on the train even tried to coax the woman into giving up her seat, she said.
"He asked if either of us would consider moving to standard class if he could find us a seat. I again refused, explaining I'd booked the seat well in advance and that I needed it," she wrote in her post. "He asked if anyone in the rest of first class would mind changing and no one agreed. Eventually he took the woman to standard class and I assume found her a seat there."
The woman admitted that she "felt bad," but didn't want to put herself "in severe discomfort because someone else didn't think ahead and reserve a seat."
Her post has been met by a number of commentators who voiced their support, with one person writing, "That's on the train operator. It's not on you."
Another suggested she should have used more colorful language to tell the woman and the train operator off.
Yet another slammed the older woman "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."
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