“Crazy” Ticket Office Cut
PAUL McLAUGHLIN
The Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) has launched a national campaign to fight plans by the train operating companies and the Government to close ticket offices across the rail network. The union warns that the plans would see the closure of over 1,000 ticket offices across the country and the loss of thousands of jobs.
At a lively demonstration organised by the local Green Party outside of Hastings Station last Tuesday (18 July), a large crowd gathered to protest and to make their views known on just how important it is to keep ticket offices open.
Jill White from St Leonards said the decision to close ticket offices would be disastrous for passengers, especially for those with disabilities and the elderly who would be left particularly vulnerable.
Vital
This view was echoed by Marisa McGreevy-Rose from West St Leonards. She believes ticket office staff are a vital part of the passenger experience as they ensure our railways are safe, secure and accessible. She said the loss of key station staff would be particularly difficult for blind people who rely on their help and support; without them, they just would not be able to travel.
Mike Turner from West Hill, a frequent train user, says it is virtually impossible to buy the cheapest ticket online and added that he has forgotten how many times ticket office staff have helped him buy the most appropriate and cheapest ticket for his journey.
Adele Bates of Warrior Square said the plans were further proof that profit was more important than people. She said the replacement of staffed ticket offices with ticket machines, “which invariable do not work properly”, was short-sighted and would leave train stations deserted and passengers extremely frustrated.
A second demonstration, this time organised by the Hastings and District Trades Union Council, took place outside Hastings Station last Saturday morning (22 July), addressed by Hastings Borough Council leader Paul Barnett. He told another enthusiastic crowd that “we all need to stand up and be counted if we want to save our vital public services.”
Resistance in Rye
The closure plans are also being resisted in neighbouring Rye. Kevin Boorman, the chair of the Marshlink community rail partnership, said the proposals to cut the staffing levels at Rye Station were “ludicrous”. He added “Rye is a busy tourist town, with large numbers of visitors arriving at weekends, both day trippers and staying visitors for Rye and Camber. To close early during the week is bad enough, but to have no staff in the station from Saturday afternoon until Monday morning was crazy”.
Helena Dollimore, the Labour Party candidate for the Hastings and Rye constituency, said there were “many people across Hastings and Rye who are very worried about these proposals to close our ticket offices. Basic questions as to the impact on disabled passengers, on the elderly, on staff and on the roll-out of technology in stations have been left unanswered. And, to make matters worse, people have been given just 21 days to have their say. Railroading the plans through without consideration for disabled passengers, the elderly and others only risks exacerbating the managed decline of our rail network.”
Govia Thameslink Railway, which runs the Southern train operating company, carried out what has been widely criticised as a cursory, limited three-week public consultation on its plans, which ended on 26 July.
Across the country, too, there has been strong criticism of the whole consultation process. Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, along with his counterparts in other northern cities, has vowed to take legal action against all the train companies “if the consultation to close the majority of rail ticket offices is not halted”.
Unlike the trains, this story is likely to run and run.
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