Greater Anglia is temporarily changing ticket office arrangements from today (Sunday 19th April 2020).
In response to the Coronavirus crisis, 34 ticket offices will close temporarily, and seven will have reduced opening hours.
The train company has seen passenger numbers drop by over 90 per cent, as people follow Government safety advice to stay at home.
The fall in passenger numbers had led to a drop in numbers of people using station ticket offices.
As a result, ticket offices consistently selling less than 20 tickets a day will temporarily close, except for ticket offices at some stations which are key for travellers to nearby big hospitals, which will remain open.
All stations will remain open, and Greater Anglia will continue to run a reduced timetable to make sure key workers can still travel to work and back.
Where ticket offices are temporarily closed, customers requiring tickets will be able to buy them either at ticket machines, online or by using the Greater Anglia app.
Ticket machines are monitored remotely with a team ready to fix any problems that may arise.
Ticket offices to close temporarily from week beginning Sunday 19th April are:
- Audley End
- Braintree
- Brimsdown
- Burnham-on-Crouch
- Colchester Town
- Diss
- Enfield Lock
- Elsenham
- Frinton
- Harlow Mill
- Hatfield Peverel
- Hertford East
- Hockley
- Ingatestone
- Kelvedon
- Manningtree
- March
- Newport
- Prittlewell
- Rayleigh
- Rochford
- Rye House
- Sawbridgeworth
- Shelford
- St Margaret's
- South Woodham Ferrers
- Stansted Mountfitchet
- Stowmarket
- Thetford
- Waltham Cross
- Ware
- Whittlesford Parkway
- Wickford
- Wivenhoe
Revised opening hours will come into operation at
- Bishops Stortford
- Broxbourne
- Cambridge
- Cheshunt
- Ely
- Harlow Town
- Tottenham Hale
The rest of the ticket offices on the Greater Anglia network will be open as follows:
| Ticket office | Mon-Fri | Sat | Sun |
| Billericay | 06.00-12.45 13.45-20.15 |
06.00-12.45 13.45-20.15 |
07.10-20.30 |
| Bishops Stortford | 06.00-19.00 | 07.00-19.00 | 09.00-18.00 |
| Broxbourne | 06.30-19.00 | 07.15-18.45 | 09.00-17.45 |
| Bury St Edmunds | 05.00-18.40 | 06.50-17.30 | 08.15-16.00 |
| Cambridge | 06.00-21.00 | 07.00-20.00 | 08.00-19.00 |
| Chelmsford | 05.50-22.00 | 05.50-22.00 | 07.00-23.00 |
| Cheshunt | 06.30-19.00 | 07.00-19.00 | 08.45-15.40 |
| Clacton | 05.15-18.00 | 05.15-18.00 | 07.15-16.30 |
| Colchester | 04.30-23.15 | 04.30-22.30 | 06.00-23.15 |
| Ely | 06.30-19.00 | 07.00-19.00 | 08.00-19.00 |
| Great Yarmouth | 06.20-17.30 | 06:50-17:10 | 08:00-16:00 |
| Harlow Town | 06.30-19.00 | 07.00-19.00 | 09.00-18.00 |
| Ipswich | 05.00-21.20 | 05.00-21.20 | 07.20-22.00 |
| Liverpool Street | 06.30-22.30 | 06.30-22.30 | 06.30-22.30 |
| Lowestoft | 06.10-17.30 | 06.40-17.05 | 08.00-16.15 |
| Marks Tey | 05.35-22.10 | 05.35-22.10 | 08.20-19.30 |
| Norwich | 04.45-20.45 | 04.45-20.45 | 06.45-20.45 |
| Shenfield | 06.10-20.00 | 06.10-20.00 | 07.10-20.00 |
| Southend Victoria | 06.00-09.45 15.00-18.45 |
06.00-09.45 15.00-18.45 |
07.00-10.45 16.00-19.45 |
| Stansted Airport | 06.30-19.00 | 06.30-19.00 | 06.30-19.00 |
| Tottenham Hale | 06.30-20.00 | 07.00-19.00 | 08.00-19.00 |
| Witham | 06.00-22.00 | 06.15-21.00 | 06.45-21.00 |
What did the officials say?
Martin Moran, Greater Anglia commercial and customer service director, said:
“We'd like to thank customers for acting on Government advice to only travel if it is essential. We've seen a big drop in passengers using our trains and stations – including our ticket offices.
“These changes are only temporary. Once we are out of lockdown and people start travelling again, then we will reopen them.
“Stations will remain open and we'll continue to run our reduced train service, so that essential key workers can travel to work and back.
“Our priority is to keep all of our staff and customers safe. We're following all Government guidelines on social distancing and we've stepped up our cleaning of trains and stations, including high-touch areas such as ticket machine buttons and door handles.
“I'd like to thank all staff who are doing a sterling job of serving our customers and delivering a good service during these testing times.”
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