Priority Seats

When a fellow rider stepped up to give a pregnant woman a seat on the Tube, another passenger forcibly stole it, leaving the lady absolutely stunned.

The event happened on a Jubilee Line train travelling from Stanmore into London during morning rush hour.

An eight-month-pregnant woman who had just boarded the carriage was being entirely ignored by those in the priority seats, but a thoughtful commuter chose to stand up and offer his own seat to the pregnant woman. But as he stood up, a well-built man standing about two metres tall abruptly thrust in front of the pregnant woman to seize the space.

Both the woman and the helpful passenger immediately challenged the guy, telling him the seat was explicitly meant for an expectant mother.

The passenger stared them both in the eye, stayed obstinately seated, and didn’t say anything to defend himself. He then closed his eyes and feigned to fall asleep soon after to evade facing the enraged glares from the rest of the carriage.

Later, after noticing a logo on the man’s branded business shirt, the disgruntled traveller was able to identify the man’s employer.

In an odd turn of events, it turned out that the man really works for a company that specifically produces goods to assist those with health and mobility problems.

The pregnant woman later took to social media to share her disbelief, branding the passenger quite lazy and rude.

Luckily, someone else in the carriage ultimately got up to offer her a separate priority seat, saving her from having to stand the entire way.

The incident has sparked tremendous anger online, with hundreds of Londoners demanding the man be exposed to his employers for his conduct.

Had I been a passenger on the train and pregnant, I would have sat on his lap, and then said, ‘Oh no, my waters have broken.’ He would have been out of the seat in a flash.

Regardless of pregnancy, disability, et cetera, one should offer their seat; it’s just common courtesy, and don’t take a seat that was offered by another person; that’s just plain disgusting.

This doesn’t just happen on trains, though; it happens on buses as well. 1984, my son was about 3 months old. I was boarding a bus and was having a problem folding the pram up to sit down. I had my child under one arm, whilst attempting to fold a pram down. Nobody batted an eyelid. I promptly said, ‘Some help wouldn’t go amiss.’ Everyone on the bus acted like I was invisible.

Manners maketh the man. Well, you would think so, but evidently not.

If a seat is designated for a wheelchair or for someone disabled, even a pram, and it states that it is designated, then that is what it means. If you are fit and healthy, then you don’t need the seat; you can stand on your own two feet; it’s called courtesy.

A designated seat isn’t a suggestion, a polite hint, or something people can ignore because they’re tired or don’t feel like standing. It’s a requirement, rooted in accessibility law, safety, and basic human decency, and the fact that people still fight over them, or worse, decline to move, shows how badly courtesy has collapsed on public transport.