Bank Holiday Train Ridiculousness

I travelled twice over the bank holiday in the UK. People generally take the whole easter Friday to Monday off work or school as both the Friday and Monday are holiday and make for a long weekend. However this year was the year of ridiculousness. I forgot that there was going to be work going on to do with the metro lines in parts of northeast England. So I went on the Saturday from South Shields to Newcastle, which is normally a case of ride however many stops then change and ride another stop. Simple right? Not that day. I rode as far as i could then had to get the replacement bus. As the scanner on the bus apparently wasn't working, a number of people with bus passes were allowed to just walk on. I then got another metro, but got off a few stops later after hearing an announcement from the driver. I thought he said to get off, but i met some fellow passengers who said I could have stayed on that train. I finally completed my metro journey by taking the next one to go in that direction. The metro trains thankfully come every 20 minutes or perhaps 10, but I would very much appreciate knowing why work was done on a weekend when people were bound to be going here there and everywhere! I also took a train in the afternoon of Easter Monday from Newcastle to Peterborough. The thing that has always made me angry about train travel in the UK is not only the prices, but the fact that a ticket does not mean a seat. You can book a seat if you want, but in busy times you probably won't get anywhere near a sittable seat! On Monday I was almost standing for the whole journey. I say almost, because there were supposed seats in my carriage, but they were fixed slanting seats I could do little more than perch on. They reminded me of a softer version of seats one might find at a bus stop while doing nothing more than waiting, not somewhere you would sit while on a journey. This particular train was so full, that the person on my left was standing all journey, the person on my right hadn't moved from their seat on their case/bag before or after I was there, then the rest of the people were either standing or sitting on the floor. The conductor even made several announcements to say that first class was "full and standing" and people might be able to claim compensation if they had reserved a seat on the train and not been able to get to it. I spoke to a lady who lost her spot on the floor as soon as she stood up, then her little child had the choice of the floor or random person's bag. I often agree with someone whose name I'll never know as it was a radio phone-in years ago, but one thing I always remember them saying is "they shouldn't sell more train tickets than there are seats on a train, just as it is for an aeroplane or the theatre". The train not only had more passengers because another line was closed due to work, but of course people wanted or needed to travel anyway. The train I was on ended up getting delayed because so manny people were standing too close to the edge of station platforms. Oh and there was a problem with a signal near a station. The moral of the story? Don't travel on trains during a bank holiday.