The train operators’ claim that freeing station staff by closing ticket offices will improve customer service overall may sound sensible but is fallacious (Unions urge ‘final push’ to save England’s rail ticket offices, 1 September).
What they don’t say is that they are cutting the hours when staff will be available – hence the planned staff redundancies. For example, at Northallerton, my local station – also the main station for Rishi Sunak’s constituency, which he would use if he deigned to travel by train more often – hours when staff will be available are being cut by 45%, stopping at 2pm on weekdays. So there will be no staff to assist elderly or disabled travellers, or to help travellers when trains are cancelled or delayed, or to help customers who can’t use the ticket machines.
Other threatened changes include a reduction in wifi and stopping catering on trains. At a time when it should be encouraging train travel to protect the environment, the government is requiring train companies to make it less attractive.
Sheila Cross
Northallerton, North Yorkshire
• My husband and I have spent the last hour trying to renew my senior railcard. We put in all the relevant data, included a photo, and the website froze at the point of taking a payment. We tried this several times to no avail. We have two Oxford degrees between us but we now have to admit defeat. I shall go to our nearest station and buy a one-year pass instead of the three-year one I wanted. If ticket offices are to disappear, how will I be able to buy a card in the future?
Lin Friend
Burton, Cheshire
• I recently purchased tickets to travel to Manchester airport using the East Midlands Railway app. I bought an e-ticket with a credit card. The train was cancelled (as is the norm these days). When I used delay repay, rather than refunding me, EMR sent me a time-limited paper travel voucher that can only be used at a ticket office. Without local ticket offices, people would really struggle to use these vouchers.
Matthew Pennington
Sheffield
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