For all Advance purchase fares booked on our website our system will automatically reserve a seat free of charge. For Anytime, Off-Peak or Super Off-Peak fares the site will ask whether you want a seat reserved. This is in case you have not made a decision on when you want to travel or would prefer not to be tied down to a particular train. We are not always able to reserve seats. This could be because: The train services you are travelling on do not offer seat reservations. e.g. if it is a short journey. The train on which you wish to travel is full at the time of booking. The train company may not have released seat reservations yet. This is done up to 12 weeks ahead of travel. Even without a seat reservation your tickets are still valid and you can sit in any vacant unreserved seat for the appropriate class of travel for your journey.
You can download our seat maps here.