Calls to save ticket offices as closures consultation 'failed disabled people'

06 October 2023 , 20:41

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Sarah Leadbetter holding a sign calling for more manned stations (Image: Western Daily Press)

Disabled rail users have applied to have the ticket office closures consultation declared unlawful.

Sarah Leadbetter, who is registered blind, and Doug Paulley, a wheelchair user who has hearing loss, have applied for a judicial review. They say the consultation failed to give disabled people enough information in accessible formats.

The plans to close almost every ticket office in England have caused outrage, with the Mirror campaigning to save them. Ms Leadbetter, from Narborough, Leics, said: “People with visual impairments regularly need ticket office staff to help us. To hold a consultation on taking away this help that fails to hear from those who need it most is totally unfair.”

Mr Paulley, from Wetherby, West Yorks, said the consultation was “not long enough, inaccessible to many disabled people and not fit for purpose”. The Train Operating Companies have denied that the consultation was inadequate.

Alan Jones