Mizter T wrote:
You're a lucky man if you've only been on a couple of trains where
there are no available seats - it's not an unusual situation in the
rush hour!

Depends on the route, obviously. Some morning trains will be packed,
but others start from just one station back and are pretty empty. By
the time it gets to Finsbury Park, it's pretty packed but not
ridiculously so.

People can be pathetic wilting violets in such situations - as you say
just ask!

I can sort of understand a family or group considering a train to be
full when you can't get seats together, but few trains (bar the rush
hour) are literally packed as people say (such as those who moan to the
media about how our trains are always overcrowded). It's just that you
may have to split up to get seated. In some rare instances, people will
volunteer to move so people can sit together. I think even I might be a
little too shy to ask people to swap seats!

Jonathan