03 October 2023 , 16:36
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Plans to axe nearly 1,000 railway ticket offices are fuelling a “human rights crisis for our oldest and most vulnerable”, pensioners’ leaders warned tonight.
Some 974 station front counters face being shut under Government-backed proposals from the industry. The Mirror, MPs and unions are fighting the mass closure scheme, along with campaigners. Delegates to this month’s National Pensioners’ Convention Transport Conference will rally against the plans, which co-organiser Fran Postlethwaite said comes “at a critical time for our bus and rail services”.
Citing the drive to close ticket offices, the NPC said it was part of “the decline in UK bus and rail services” which “is creating a human rights crisis for our oldest and most vulnerable”. It warned: “The closures will force travellers to book tickets online - requiring access to a computer or smartphone which many older people do not have - or to use vending machines that are often out of order and do not offer the best deals.
“Worst of all, closing rail ticket offices and removing station staff will be a huge blow for those with mobility issues who require assistance to safely board or leave trains. It is an accepted and well-researched fact that older and vulnerable people value the presence of staff above all else for their safety and confidence to travel.”
Rail chiefs, backed by ministers, claim ticket offices are no longer needed because most passengers buy online, via smartphone apps or at station machines. They say staff will be switched to concourses and platforms - making them more accessible to passengers. The Mirror is fighting to Save Our Ticket Offices and campaigners say the plans will discriminate against the disabled and elderly, who are less likely to book over the internet or using apps - meaning they will be forced off trains and more likely to be confined to their homes.
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Rail safety expert Peter Rayner, of the NPC Transport Working Party, said: “The Equality Act 2010 requires public bodies, which include train operating companies, to ensure that existing or proposed policies, practices or decisions do not discriminate. The moves to de-staff stations, close ticket offices, close toilets, remove access to ticket purchase options - other than online or through touch screen machines - all clearly fall under the heading of policies that discriminate. There is no evidence that the legally-required assessments into the impact of these policies on older and disabled people have been undertaken or that ‘reasonable adjustments’ to overcome the damaging effects of such policies have been considered.”
Speaking at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester this week, Transport Secretary Mark Harper backed the closure plans. He told a fringe meeting: “We are supporting what the industry is doing on the ticket office move, where we want to get people out of ticket offices - where most people don’t buy tickets - but into stations to be better able to support customers, particularly those customers who don’t use the railway as often, so they can have a better customer experience.”