The RMT Union has said that it is to step up its campaign against the closure of ticket offices, with dozens of protests set to take place across the country.
A mass rally is set to take place at London Kings Cross on Thursday (13th July 2023) at 6pm whilst local stations will be leafleted.
RMT is also taking strike action on 20,22 and 29 July over pay, conditions and ticket office closures.
General Secretary Mick Lynch said: “Our union is taking our campaign to save ticket offices out into every town, city and village in this country.
“The recent announcements of ticket office closures is a fig-leaf for the wholescale de-staffing of stations, including safety critical train dispatch, safety critical train despatch staff, passenger assistance and other non-ticket office customer service workers.
“Ticket office closures under Schedule 17 means there will be no regulations on staffing levels at stations whatsoever.
“Train operators will then be free to staff or de-staff any station to whatever level they choose.
“Our union and the travelling public do not want a de-humanised railway that will be a rife with crime and anti-social behaviour, inaccessible to the most vulnerable.
“We will fight these plans all the way and need the public's support in joining our campaign and taking part in the consultation.”
Do they not realise that NOT everyone has a smartphone or bank cards ? Will people be still be able to pay with cash if they close the ticket offices ? We should be able to choose how to get our tickets. I for one will NOT be able to use the trains anymore.
The basic answer is yes. Bear in mind that , like at most supermarkets, were staff are available to help you use self service tills, the same will apply at main stations ,ie station staff will be available.The RMT allege that closing ticket offices will “be a thieves paradise”.Think about it, how often have office bound staff been on the spot to prevent crime.Sometime maybe, but if you are office bound, how can you.More staff at front of office and on platform must be better.The RMT is not the best organisation for open and independent debate.
Fighting the closures is pointless.Only 18 % of tickets are sold at ticket offices.More and more people want to do things online, on tablets and phones etc.Take, for example air ticket, most operators send tickets and boarding cards by pdf, with the necessary QR code ( which in future is what it will be about).Staff will be deployed to other roles, assisting passengers.This is happening at stations already ( eg.Southampton Central).It is pointless of rail unions to completely oppose.It will happen eventually, regardless of which political party is in Government
Do you think anyone wil, notice?
There making it harder and less convenient to travel by train.its so much more convenient to jump in the car these days
If i want to travel to London by car from my home in Cornwall it will probably take 6 hours(with comfort breaks) and cost over £100 in fuel and other costs whereas a train will take less than 5 hours with ticket costs (with a rail card) around £80….more convenient to jump in a car NOT!!
I support protest against tick office closure they are pary of the train journey very important
I completely agree Ticket offices should NOT BE CLOSED!
my wife bought 3 tickets ror us to go to Edinburgh on hercredt card.
My daughter and I went to the station to collect the tickets a couple of days before we were due to travel.
On arrival the ticket machine would not read the card and luckily the gentleman at the ticket office sorted out the problem.
What would I have done if there was no ticket office and I had left it to pick up the tickets just before departure?