St Leonards residents protest against ticket office closures

Local residents outside St Leonards Warrior Square protest against the planned closure of thousands of railway ticket offices.

Residents staged a protest outside St Leonards Warrior Square station this morning (August 23), as part of a national day of action against planned ticket office closures.

The ticket office at St Leonards Warrior Square is one of almost 1,000 ticket offices marked for closure.

St Leonards resident Erica Smith said: "We could save a billion pounds every year from taking our railway into public ownership.

"Yet instead of taking our trains into public ownership and reinvesting profits into cutting ticket prices and keeping ticket offices open, the government is protecting private companies and cutting facilities passengers depend on instead. This will hit elderly and disabled passengers hardest. It's just not on.”

The national day of action had been called by the RMT and We Own It, which campaigns to bring public services back into public ownership.

RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch said: "The floodgates have now opened for the annihilation of ticket offices. Ticket office staff make sure our railways are safe, secure and accessible.

“Wholesale ticket office closures would be disastrous and leave our railway deserted. Disabled and elderly passengers will be particularly affected."

Cat Hobbs, director of We Own It, added: “Privatisation has failed for nearly 40 years. Politicians can’t ignore the truth any longer – these monopolies are a cash cow for shareholders around the world and we need to take them back.

"We need energy companies that don’t rip us off, public transport that works for passengers, water companies that don’t pour sewage into our rivers.”