Queuing for a window at the ticket office, Sheffield. Photo Workers.
On 16 August protests took place across Britain against plans to shut our railway ticket offices. These were part of the RMT union’s continuing campaign “Save Ticket Offices”.
There were demonstrations at more than 30 stations, including Euston, Glasgow, Leeds, Halifax, Sunderland, Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham. Members of the public joined the RMT demonstrations. This is set to be followed by a march and rally in London on Thursday 31 August on the eve of the closure of consultations. These were initially for three weeks only, but now run until 1 September.
Responses
The fear is that the consultation outcome is a foregone conclusion, but the RMT is encouraging the public to respond anyway. By mid-August 400,000 responses had been received.
The government has ordered train operating companies to start closing all the ticket offices. The closures would worsen passenger service, accessibility, safety and security, and restrict passengers’ access to the best value tickets.
Unstaffed
The closures would lead to the de-staffing of stations. The Association of British Commuters has found that in the West Midlands alone, 137 stations would be left unstaffed.
The RMT regularly publishes pictures on its social media showing the public using ticket offices. It doesn’t have to look hard to find them.