Rail union boss Mick Lynch has accused the Government and train companies of “age and disability discrimination” with the threat to close almost all ticket offices.
Mr Lynch said proposals to shut 974 offices at stations across England will heavily penalise those passengers who don’t want to buy tickets from station machines or online, or those who cannot. “They don’t empathise with what these people’s needs are because they haven’t thought about them going forward,” Mr Lynch, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) union told the Mirror.
“There is a big element of age and disability discrimination in these proposals. In some ways it is through complete ignorance because they didn’t even put the consultation materials out in an accessible formats for those with impairments. They concentrate on the people who can use digital apps and all the rest of it. They see the elderly and the disabled as an overhead they can get rid of.”
The RMT staged another day of protests yesterday (Wed) against the threatened mass closures and to urge people to register their opposition through a consultation that runs until September 1. The consultation has already had more than 315,000 responses. The train industry claims the closures are due to fewer passengers buying tickets over the counter and insist that staff will be redeployed on the platform and station concourses. But the RMT fears up to 2,300 jobs could be lost.
Mick Lynch (Greg Martin)Mr Lynch has travelled from Penzance in Cornwall to Berwick-upon-Tweed in Northumberland to highlight the campaign to save ticket offices, a cause backed by the Mirror. “It is bringing all sorts of groups together,” he said. “Women’s groups, disabled groups, blind associations, but also small business and tourist groups. They all really need ticket offices in their town.
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“Even people who don’t normally agree with trade unions and the RMT are coming together behind this campaign, which is really heartening. The Government has got to listen because people are speaking.” He claimed: “It is directed by the Government, there is no denying that.
"They have directed the train operators to carry this programme through. I know through speaking to executive people in the industry that they don’t want to do this. It is all about cutting costs.” Mr Lynch echoed concerns already expressed that passengers buying tickets online or at machines will pay more.
“If you go to a railway station, the clerk will sell you the best possible ticket using their knowledge of the system,” he said, adding that lots of ticket offices were already closed because of staff shortages. They are trying to manipulate people and try and get more money out of them which will deliver more profit for the train operating companies on this privatised model that we’ve got,” he went on.
“It’s no accident they’ve done this during the Parliamentary recess. But the government has underestimated the response to this and the depth of feeling. They need to start listening because it will cost Tory MPs their seats if they’re not careful.”
He claimed many MPs are not as dependent on public transport as some of their constituents, so fail to appreciate the impact the closures will have.
* The Mirror is hosting a special online event to fight railway ticket office closures. Join us for the Save Our Ticket Offices rally next Thursday at 5pm. You will be able to watch live on the Mirror website or our YouTube, Facebook and Twitter channels.
Time is running out for passengers to have their say on the ticket office cull. Members of the public have until September 1 to give feedback on the proposals. Our online event will take place a week before the deadline. The speakers, who will be announced tomorrow (FRI), will talk about why they want to stop the closures and how Mirror readers can get involved.
'Move could mean some passengers paying more'
The mass closure of ticket offices will force some passengers to pay more, an insider has revealed. The ticket office worker, speaking on condition of anonymity, revealed a drawback in self-service ticket machines that train companies want travellers to use instead.
She said: “Our evening ticket fares for some routes start at 6pm, so the machines won’t sell them until then. “Good luck catching our 18.02 train if you’re waiting for the ticket machine to sell it.” She said staff found out about the proposed closures from the media, not the company, adding: “One manager I know has told me privately they are against the closures. They know better than most how bad these changes would be.”
She also told the Mirror that guide dogs were trained to go to ticket office windows, and that the train firms’ “help points” would be much harder for them to find.
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