Campaigners against controversial plans to close the ticket office at Stratford railway station welcomed the government’s big U-turn on the proposals
CAMPAIGNERS against controversial plans to close the ticket office at Stratford railway station, along with many others around the country, this week welcomed the government’s big U-turn on the proposals.
On Tuesday Transport Secretary Mark Harper announced that the scheme to shut down hundreds of the offices in England had been scrapped.
He said the government had asked train operators to withdraw their proposals because they failed to meet high passenger standards. This was a coded way of saying the plans had met ferocious opposition from rail users, unions and disability campaigners.
Peter Morris, chair of the Shakespeare Line Rail User Group (SLTUG), told the Herald: “These proposals were ill thought through right from the start. The closure proposals took no account of the many passengers who require help with purchasing travel tickets and, indeed, those who cannot purchase travel tickets online.
“There were also significant issues that remained unanswered concerning passengers with accessibility needs.”
Mr Morris, whose group represents passengers who use train services between Stratford and Birmingham and Stratford and Leamington, also criticised Stratford MP Nadhim Zahawi for his alleged lack of support for the campaign against the ticket office closure.
“We are disappointed with the lack of interest and support for those people, many of whom are Mr Zahawi’s constituents, who objected to the ticket office closure plans,” said Mr Morris. “Where was the MP representing their views?”
Yesterday (Wednesday) the Herald tried to contact Mr Zahawi so he could respond to this criticism. By the time of going to press no response had been offered.
In September Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said closing ticket offices was “the right thing for the British public and British taxpayers” as “only one in ten tickets are sold currently in ticket offices”.
But the plans put forward by the train companies to close the offices produced a massive backlash, attracting more than 750,000 responses from individuals and organisations such as SLTUG. They are said to have included “powerful and passionate concerns”.
Mr Morris said: “While we welcome the scrapping of these ticket office proposals, we are also mindful that it was the government that pushed the train operators into this in the first place, forcing them to incur the wrath of passengers, with the government totally unprepared for the scale and tenacity of the public’s reaction.
“The train operators have wasted thousands of pounds at the government’s behest and now have had the rug pulled from under them by the government.
“Nationally the whole exercise has been a scandalous waste of public money and has caused considerable distress to many passengers, especially those with accessibility needs, and has been an unwanted distraction to companies trying to operate train services.”
For their part, the rail companies are said to be “furious” at the government’s U-turn, saying the original plans had been approved by the Department of Transport.
Meanwhile, in another local response, Dr Manuela Perteghella, Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Stratford, told the Herald she welcomed the news.
“This is the right decision, but the closure of ticket offices should never have been proposed in the first place,” she said. “Ministers and rail bosses have questions to answer.”
Dr Perteghella added: “Ticket offices are a lifeline for vulnerable and disabled passengers, as well as visitors to our historic town, and those residents who – for many reasons – do not own smartphones, laptops or computers.”
