A woman has revealed she refused to give up her First Class train seat for an elderly passenger - and people are agreeing with the move.
The 32-year-old had booked herself a first class seat on a London to Aberdeen train, anticipating a long post-holiday ride during which she'd have to do some work.
She got on the train at London and sat down, realising that the seat she'd been assigned was labelled 'priority.
"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," the woman explained in a Reddit post.
Do you think the woman was right not to give up her seat? Tell us in the comments below.
"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 apologised but reiterated that I'd booked the seat and wasn't going to move."
A train guard came over to help resolve the situation, and discovered that the older woman had booked an open return with no seat reservation.
"He asked if either of us would consider moving to standard class if he could find us a seat," the poster continued.
"I again refused, explaining I'd booked the seat well in advance and that I needed it. 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.
"I felt bad, 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."
The post sparked a great debate about the ins and outs of seat etiquette on British trains, and when a traveller is obligated to give their perch to someone else.
Some also criticised the train operator for putting the woman in a difficult position.
"They sold the disability seats as the most expensive seats on the train," one person noted. "Then they tried to get the person who bought those seats to move to standard.
"Those seats should in my opinion never be sold unless the occupier is disabled. That's on the train operator. It's not on you."
Another argued that the original poster was well within her rights to keep the seat she booked.
One Reddit user agreed, writing: "The woman was for thinking she was entitled to your reserved seat though. Elderly or not, you paid in advance and shouldn't have to move just because she showed up."
Over the years the etiquette around train seats and giving them up has become slightly confused.
While younger people, and particularly men, may have once been expected to give up their positions to older people and women, this is no longer such a hard and fast rule.
Grant Harrold, a former butler to King Charles III, believes that people should keep up the seat giving tradition.
"I have been travelling to London on quite a few occasions and have noted that politeness and manners have left not only the trains but also the platforms of some of our iconic stations," he writes on the Royal Butler Blog.
"People seem to think they are back in the time of survival of the fittest. People race past you at the station to get on trains that are not leaving for at least 15 minutes.
"Why I ask myself is there this mad panic? Well it is simple, they all want to get the holy grail...a train seat!"
He adds that "all common sense goes out of the window" with people pushing each other aside.
