Plans to close almost all railways ticket offices across England scrapped - Rail union TSSA 'delighted' government 'has admitted defeat'

TSSA – the union representing rail ticket office workers for over 125 years – has been at the forefront of a sustained campaign to ‘Save Ticket Offices’.

The union's campaign has resulted in the widespread condemnation of the proposals by passengers and disability, women’s and pensioner groups, drawing 750,000 responses – the largest ever for a public consultation.

Transport Secretary, Mark Harper, has now told train companies to withdraw the plans after both Transport Focus and London TravelWatch today formally objected to the proposals.

TSSA general secretary, Maryam Eslamdoust, said: “Our union has fought tooth and nail for many months to stop what would have been a catastrophe for our railways.

“We are delighted that the government has admitted defeat and scrapped these wrongheaded plans. It shows the power of our union and of the great British public in making sure these planned closures have now reached the end of the line.

“Though the Transport Secretary, Mark Harper, has acted today frankly none of this need have happened. We have been saying from the outset that railway ticket offices and station staff are a vital and loved public service. They should never have been under attack in the first place.

“I pay tribute to every single one of our amazing members and the public beyond who worked so hard to make sure this was a battle we won. This is their victory and a victory for our railways.”

Farzana Hakim, Govia Thameslink Railway’s head of public affairs and partnerships, said: “Many of you will have seen the news following Transport Focus and London TravelWatch’s response to the ticket office consultation, published this morning and I wanted to ensure you have the correct information as I know there are some very strong views about the proposals.

“Over the summer a local public consultation was run with Transport Focus and London TravelWatch on proposals about how tickets are sold on the railway and customer service.

“Many of you took part in that consultation and we would like to thank you for making your feedback available to us and the passenger bodies to support their work and we know it has been immensely valuable.

“Today, Transport Focus and London TravelWatch have updated us they are supportive of the principle of redeploying staff from ticket offices to improve the overall offer for customers.

“However, they have also made clear that they are not able to approve these changes as there is feedback related to the railway as a whole which has not been completely addressed.

“We always made clear that this was a genuine consultation and as a result, following the process of the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement, all proposals have been withdrawn and will not be introduced.

“The consultation did, however, raise interesting ideas on related issues, such as expanding the types of products that can be sold at ticket machines. Where possible, with the wider industry we will look to introduce ideas such as this.

“As always, should you have any questions, please let us know.”

Sir Peter Bottomley, Member of Parliament for Worthing West, said: “I'm grateful to rail travellers and other constituents who responded to the consultation about the redeployment of rail station staff.

Together, we made the argument that knowledgeable, professional and friendly ticket office staff are valued and valuable. We can together welcome the Government's decision not to let operating companies close all the ticket offices.

This is a relief. This is a victory for commuters, for families and for the occasional rail users.”