TV doctor Dr Amir Khan has criticised passengers on public transport who leave their bags on empty seats, calling the behaviour rude and disrespectful. The familiar face on ITV's Lorraine and Good Morning Britain spoke out after an experience in an airport which he said "really annoyed" him.
Airport and train incidents
Speaking in a video on TikTok, he said: "I need to know I'm not alone, but I might be alone." He outlined something which happened to him while returning from Rome a few weeks ago, adding: "But it was reinforced by every train journey I take as well."
"So, after you've been through security and then you go to your gate area before you board, there's like, a smallish number of seats around there," he said. "Not enough seats for the number of people that are gonna be on the plane.
"And it really annoys me when people are standing up and other people have their bags on seats. It really does annoy me. Like, take your bag off the seat so people can sit down."
Family forced to stand
He added that a family with two small children had found themselves forced to stand, with each parent holding a child, despite other passengers having left bags on seats.
He said: "There was a younger couple, and they had a bag on their third seat - I said 'why don't you take your bag off your seat so that mum can sit down with her kid? And they gave me the most deathly stare. And I stood up and I said to the dad, 'you sit here and then, mum, you can sit on that seat'.
"But the look I got for that. And it's the same on trains or buses. If there's people standing. Take your bags off the seats.
"It's so annoying, especially when you take the aisle seat and then put your bag on the window seat. Just take your bag off your seat. Is it just me? I feel like it might. No, it's not just me, surely?"
Public reaction
Commenters rallied behind Dr Khan. One said: "I ask politely first. If they don't take the bag off the seat I do it for them free of charge."
Someone else wrote: "It's a disgrace people have no manners these days."
Another said: "I have asked people to remove their bags from seats. I may be old fashioned, but I, as an able bodied over-60's person, will offer my seat to those less able, elderly, or those struggling with small children etc. I think this is good manners."
A different user wrote: "I absolutely 100 per cent agree with you, and I've now started saying 'can you move your bag please' - some do it willingly, some do it begrudgingly, but it's so rude and disrespectful!!"
And another said: "Try being disabled! People sit in the priority seats all the damn time and if you dare to ask them to move, they at best give you the dirtiest look possible."
Last month, Dutch rail operator Nerderlandse Spoorwegen introduced a ban on passengers placing bags on seats, even when carriages are empty. While those flouting the new rule won't face a financial penalty, conductors will issue warnings to those in breach.
