First Class has become a peculiar anomaly the FGW trains I take from
Ealing Broadway most days: it's really Third Class. What seems to
happen is that nobody appears to actually pay for and travel in First
Class, which is usually entirely populated by drunks and/or the most
aggressive looking kids - essentially people who the conductors won't
touch. It is always the filthiest and smelliest section on the train.

It seems that the bigger seats are reserved for those who are most
confident in telling any staff to f*** off rather than anybody who pays
for it. To be fair to the conductors, I have occasionally seen them
attempt to move people on from First Class (a couple of times, I have
even seen people complaining) but never successfully.

Jase


wrote:
I seem to remember reading somewhere, possibly on this group (but now
of course I can't find it), that within zones 1-6 there was no such
thing as first class, i.e. if you had a travelcard you could sit in
first class carriages on NR services up to the boundary of the zones
on your travelcard.