Council call for meeting with rail minister over plans to close ticket …
A parish council has requested an urgent meeting with the rail minister in a final bid to save the ticket office at Durham Railway Station.
The City of Durham Parish Council want to meet with Rail Minister Huw Merriman MP to express their concerns over plans to shut the ticket office which it has described as “abhorrent”.
Plans have been announced to modernise the railway by closing almost all of England’s ticket offices. A consultation which was initially due to last 21 days has now been extended by five weeks until September 1[1] by the Government.
The consultation has already received 170,000 comments, according to watchdog Transport Focus and the Rail Delivery Group said operators are keen to give more people a chance to give their views on the proposals.
At its recent Business Committee meeting, the City of Durham Parish Council heard concerns from a number of different stakeholder groups – particularly those representing people with mobility and other issues.
The Parish Council has already objected strongly to these proposals, which it describes as “abhorrent” and “in total contravention with Equality and Disability Discrimination Laws.”
The Parish Council says that passengers would no longer have widespread and easy access to the purchase of rail products and best value fares if the ticket offices closures went ahead as planned.
The council argues that Durham has the highest number of passengers from among the stations where LNER propose to close the ticket office and demand for the ticket office in Durham remains high, with an estimated 14,000 tickets purchased each year at Durham Station alone.
Durham station welcomes around 2.8 million travellers each year and this number has been on an upward trend with 1.2 million travellers using Durham Station in 2000/01.
The Parish Council has argued that the ticket office closures would cause a significant worsening of the facilities and support offered to disabled, deaf and older residents. Already, disabled people face numerous barriers in accessing the rail network and are three times less likely to travel by rail than non-disabled people.
There has been vocal opposition to ticket office closures from disabled people’s organisations, including our own Durham Access for All Group, Disability Rights UK, National Federation of the Blind UK, Transport for All, RNIB, RNID, Guide Dogs, Scope, Thomas Pocklington Trust, WinVisble, Greater Manchester Coalition of Disabled People and the MS Society.
Speaking at the council’s recent full council meeting, Coun Richard Ormerod said: “Rail users in Durham really value the exceptional service provided by the ticket office staff and proposals to close this service are clearly going to impact on disabled and elderly users the hardest. We are requesting an urgent meeting with the Rail Minister to ask that he and his Government re-think these plans which essentially boil down to staff cuts in all but name.”
He added: “The Parish Council is wholly opposed to any cuts to station staffing and believe any supposed cost savings cannot be used to justify a policy that will worsen passenger service, accessibility, safety, security, and access to rail products.
“It is deeply concerning that the Government and train operators have given no commitment that staffing numbers will not reduce as a result of ticket office closures.”
Councillor Ormerod, who represents the Elvet and Gilesgate division on both the Parish Council and County Council, has also gained the Leader of the county council’s support in lobbying the Government to re-think the plans. Only the Customer Information Centres will sell the full range of tickets and the one nearest to Durham is in Newcastle.
It is also argued that passenger needing to make a journey at short notice will not be able to buy or renew a railcard unless they have a smartphone, which many older people do not possess.
Jacqueline Starr, chief executive of the Rail Delivery Group, has previously said: “Train companies have listened to feedback and are extending the time available to respond to the consultation on changes to how tickets are sold at stations to 1st of September.
“Operators are keen to give more people a chance to give their views on the proposals, so they can bring the railway up to date with dramatic shifts in customer buying habits while supporting all its customers as the railway evolves and adapts.
“While local plans vary, the aim of the proposals is to bring staff out from behind ticket office windows to offer more help for customers buying tickets and navigating stations.
“At the same time, ticket vending machines are being upgraded to offer a wider range of fares and we have committed that no customer will have to go out of their way to buy a ticket.”
References
- ^ extended by five weeks until September 1 (Railway%20station%20ticket%20office%20closures%20plan%20delayed%20as%20consultation%20extended%20by%20five%20weeks)
- ^ Councillors pass motion to try halt government rail ticket office closure plans (www.chroniclelive.co.uk)