Perhaps the Drivers/ Conductors/ Platform Staff/ Ticket Office staff (whoever they were) had First Class passes!? Maybe they did not have first class passes, however paid for a full fare themselves to ensure a seat after a stressful day of dealing with demanding customers?! Unlikely, agreeable. Truthfully it’s really not your concern, or mine for that matter. Those who wish to sit in First class need to buy an appropriate ticket for this seating, if the train is too busy, get another service – its your decision to board that busy service. The conditions of traveling you have agreed to by purchasing a ticket.

Perhaps it was the way you asked? Railway staff deal with many people who very quickly turn aggressive and release their anger – did you show initial signs of this?!

Perhaps the toilet was locked out of use for good reason. Such as a full waste tank, spillage, vandalism etc..

Nice to know;
The majority of Brighton – Victoria (& vise-versa) services are Driver only operation. There is no Conductor/ Train Manager onboard. I’m afraid its just the way Southern choose to operate. Southerns’ main source of revenue comes from commuters who have no other choice but to travel by train – they cannot lose. Ever noticed commuter trains have been vacuumed and tables wiped? This is where Southern put any resources they have. Government funding has ceased, Southern cannot take a train out of service to fix a toilet and clean the passenger area as fines imposed by Network Rail to cancel a service is astronomical. Hope this helps.

If you don’t like their service, vote with your money – take alternative means.

Don’t fool yourself those trains are purely for the passengers. They are for executives to make a good return for investors.

A few comments here. Andy, I think you saw some of the absolute worst in staff and Glenn, you regularly have to deal with the worst in passengers – but I’d be surprised if this is not worst case scenarios on both sides.

Whilst I support your disgust with the customer service you received on the day, I’m afraid I disagree with a couple of the train policy points. British trains regularly get packed to the point of being disgusting both at commuter time and during hot, sunny weekends. As soon as you set the precedent of allowing people into First Class just because it’s busy, it opens the floodgates for all the other times it’s busy. Most train services allow you the opportunity to upgrade on board and if anyone was seriously uncomfortable I’m sure they could have done so. I also don’t question that staff should be allowed to sit down. TWere they even on duty? Someone must have been making announcements and running the train management. They get travel passes for working, they have long days – why shouldn’t they be allowed to sit when off duty? A typical train manager is unlikely to have the necessary training to fix a broken toilet and I’d be very surprised if they’d be allowed to from a health and safety point of view. It’s more likely they’d have to take the train out of service to fix it.

I think that, rather than questioning whether they should be allowed to sit or not, you should focus more on the unacceptable reaction you got from these people. To dismiss and to laugh at any customer is sackable in my eyes. If you take a job in customer service, then you need to deal with those customers with respect.

I have no connection to Southern Trains, nor anyone in the rail industry. I also think you were treated reprehensibly by the staff, but I do think you’re focusing on the wrong issues.

The issue here is about timing and perception. I can’t believe for example that the same train was crowded on the way down to Brighton at 5pm. The staff would have had plenty of journeys during the day where they would have been able to sit down. Everyone knows that a six carriage train leaving Brighton on a warm summer afternoon at 5pm is going to be heaving; why choose this journey to bag three seats and deny paying customers a seat? They could have chosen to take it in turns to share one or two seats, but in this case there was even a stubborn reluctance to remove their bags from the fourth seat of the table to allow a passenger to sit next to them. And to laugh and refuse a request to check on a locked toilet is not good service in anyone’s eyes.

I appreciate you have a tough time with unruly passengers. You do a thankless job and should expect to be treated with the same respect that all employees working with the public deserve. But I don’t see how the points you have shared with us go any way to defend the behaviour and attitude of your three colleagues in this particular incident.