A
rail
union
leader


has
revealed
that
train
operators
have
served
the
first
legal
warning
of
redundancies
as
part
of
the
closures
of
most
station
ticket
offices
in
England.

The
plans,
unveiled
yesterday,
involve
many
former
ticket
office
staff
being
given
new
responsibilities,
which
could
involve
working
on
station
concourses
to
help
passengers
use
ticket
machines
and
answer
their
questions.

Some
operators,
including
Great
Western
Railway
and
South
Western
Railway,
plan
to
close
all
their
ticket
offices.
Others
will
provide
Travel
Centres
(Southeastern)
or
Customer
Information
Centres
(Greater
Anglia)
at
the
busiest
stations.
Most
of
the
changes
are
expected
to
have
happened
by
the
end
of
next
year.

Speaking
on
BBC
Radio
Surrey
this
morning,
TSSA
interim
general
secretary
Peter
Pendle
said
he
had
received
‘half
a
dozen
communications
from
the
various
train
operating
companies,
South
Western
Trains
and
GWR
included,
both
issuing
Section
188
notices
which
is
the
notice
you
have
to
give
as
a
first
stage
to
consult
on
redundancies’.

Railnews
has
invited
the
Rail
Delivery
Group
to
comment.

Which
ticket
offices
might
stay
open?

Some
operators
have
released
details
of
their
intentions.

Avanti
West
Coast said
its
offices
at
some
larger
stations
would
be
kept
‘short-term’
for
passengers
with
complicated
ticket
queries
which
cannot
be
resolved
on
line
or
at
a
ticket
machine.
It
said
these
stations
are
those
managed
by
Network
Rail
at
London
Euston,
Manchester
Piccadilly,
Birmingham
New
Street
and
Glasgow
Central,
where
AWC
runs
the
ticket
offices,
and
also
Preston
and
Carlisle. 

Greater
Anglia plans
to
open
Customer
Information
Centres
at
London
Liverpool
Street,
Chelmsford,
Colchester,
Ipswich,
Norwich,
Stansted
Airport
and
Cambridge.
Of
the
remaining
47
stations,
some
would
have
changes
to
staffing
hours,
but
no
presently
staffed
station
will
become
unstaffed.

Great
Western
Railway is
proposing
to
close
all
its
ticket
offices
by
the
end
of
next
year,
including
London
Paddington.
It
has
already
closed
summer-only
ticket
windows
at
Looe,
Newquay
and
St
Ives.

LNER said
it
proposed
to
maintain
ticket
offices
at Edinburgh,
Newcastle,
York,
Doncaster,
Peterborough
and
London
King’s
Cross,
‘which
will
continue
to
offer
the
same
range
of
products
and
opening
times’.

Northern is
proposing
to
close
131
ticket
offices
and
change
the
opening
hours
at
18.
It
also
operates
a
further
318
stations
which
do
not
have
ticket
offices.
Stations
which
would
retain
ticket
offices
are
Barrow-in-Furness,
Blackburn,
Blackpool
North,
Bolton,
Bradford
Interchange,
Glossop,
Harrogate,
Hartlepool,
Leeds,
Liverpool
Lime
Street,
Manchester
Oxford
Road,
Manchester
Victoria,
Rochdale,
St
Helens
Central,
Salford
Crescent,
Skipton,
Warrington
Central
and
Wigan
Wallgate.
Exceptionally,
Hartlepool
is
presently
closed
on
Sundays,
but
would
open
under
the
new
proposals.
The
opening
hours
at
the
other
17
offices
will
mostly
be
reduced.  

Southeastern said
it
serves
180
stations,
and
runs
142
ticket
offices.
It
is
proposing
to
open
Travel
Centres
at
its
14
busiest
stations.
The
other
offices
will
close,
but
staff
will
return
to
14
stations
which
are
currently
unstaffed
because
of
vacancies.

South
Western
Railway is
planning
to
close
all
its
ticket
offices. 

West
Midlands
Trains said
‘all
ticket
offices
in
their
current
form
would
close
over
the
next
three
years’
but
that
it
would
introduce
a
number
of
‘hub
stations’
offering
‘enhanced
retail
facilities
and
customer
support’.
The
‘hubs’
are
proposed
at Birmingham
Snow
Hill,
Milton
Keynes
Central,
Northampton,
Nuneaton,
Sutton
Coldfield,
University,
Walsall,
Watford
Junction,
Wolverhampton
and
Worcester
Foregate
Street.