The
passenger
watchdogs
Transport
Focus
and
London
TravelWatch


say
more
than
100,000
people
have
responded
to
the
consultation
about
the
proposed
closure
of
more
than
800
station
ticket
offices
in
England.

Time
is
running
out,
because
the
deadline
for
responses
is
Wednesday.

The
Rail
Delivery
Group
and
the
Department
for
Transport
say
only
about
one
in
eight
passengers
still
use
ticket
offices,
because
the
rest
buy
from
machines
or
book
online.

The
plan
is
to
bring
staff
from
out
of
their
offices
on
to
station
concourses,
where
they
can
help
passengers
with
ticket
purchases
or
any
other
queries
they
may
have.

The
unions
have
been
protesting
at
the
plans,
saying
they
believe
the
changes
are
the
first
steps
towards
thousands
of
redundancies,
while
a
group
of
city
Mayors
in
the
North
of
England
is
challenging
the
lawfulness
of
the
consultation
itself.

The
transport
authorities
in
the
north,
who
make
up
the
Urban
Transport
Group,
say
the
changes
are
inconsistent,
pointing
out
that
Manchester
Piccadilly
and
Birmingham
New
Street,
which
have
over
32
million
and
22
million
annual
users
respectively,
are
losing
their
ticket
counters,
while
the
offices
at
Leeds
(19
million),
Sheffield
(7
million),
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
(7
million)
and
Liverpool
Lime
Street
(10
million)
will
remain
open.

Avanti
West
Coast
is
proposing
to
close
all
its
ticket
offices,
including
London
Euston,
Manchester
Piccadilly
and
Birmingham
New
Street,
while
state-owned
LNER
is
proposing
to
keep
the
offices
at
London
King’s
Cross,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
and
Edinburgh.

Transport
for
Wales
is
making
no
changes
to
the
ticket
offices
it
operates
in
England,
which
include
Chester,
Shrewsbury
and
Runcorn
East,
although
nearby
Runcorn,
which
is
run
by
Avanti
West
Coast
and
has
four
times
as
many
passengers
as
Runcorn
East,
is
set
to
see
its
office
closed.

The
managing
directors
of
individual
operators
have
been
defending
the
proposals.

Greater
Anglia
managing
director
Jamie
Burles
said:
‘The
station
proposals
are
aimed
at
providing
a
more
modern
and
flexible
service
for
our
customers.
They
reflect
the
more
convenient
ways
in
which
passengers
are
looking
to
buy
their
tickets
and
check
travel
information.

‘Station
colleagues
would
undertake
a
new,
more
flexible
role
–
bringing
staff
closer
to
customers.
Passenger
assistance
arrangements
would
continue
as
they
do
now,
from
first
to
last
trains,
but
with
additional
mobile
teams
to
give
greater
flexibility
in
providing
assistance
across
the
network.’

Transport
Focus
chief
executive
Anthony
Smith
said:
‘We’ve
had
a
huge
response
to
the
consultation
so
far.
There’s
still
time
to
respond
to
the
consultation
if
you
haven’t
done
so
yet.
We
want
to
hear
from
everyone,
so
we
can
consider
the
needs
of
all
station
users
and
local
communities.’

Transport
Focus
added
that
it
will
‘scrutinise
the
proposals
and
any
mitigations
in
detail,
alongside
the
public
responses’.