Sussex Residents Urged To Speak Up About Train Ticket Office Closures

Residents are being urged to take part in a public consultation and vote against the closure of almost all station ticket offices in Sussex.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper recently announced that many manned ticket offices would close over the next three years, including nearly every ticket office in Sussex, with passengers expected to purchase train tickets from machines or online.

However, there has been an uproar in Sussex and throughout the UK calling for the decision to be scrapped due to the impact the closure will have on passengers - especially the old and disabled.

Hastings Borough Councillor Julia Hilton (Green) said:

“Any decision to close station ticket offices would be another short-sighted decision by a government that does not care about people who use public transport to get around.

"Being able to speak to someone is vital for many passengers and plans to close ticketing offices will make travelling by train more difficult for thousands of passengers – especially passengers with disabilities, those with limited mobility and parents travelling with children.

"We urge members of the public to visit https://tinyurl.com/save-our-ticket-offices and take 2 minutes to respond to the current 'consultation' before it closes on 26 July. We also encourage everyone to support local railworkers on their picket lines this month."

A protest was staged outside Hastings Railway Station yesterday evening (July 18).

The local community rail partnership in Rye have also spoken up, calling proposals to cut the staffing levels at Rye station ludicrous.

Govia Thameslink Railway, which runs the Southern train operating company, announced plans earlier this month to make cuts at a number of railway stations, including those at Rye, on the Marshlink, in East Sussex.

Kevin Boorman, chair of the Marshlink community rail partnership, explained:

“Southern is consulting on changes at most of its staffed stations. In many cases the hours that a station is staffed will not change, although most booking offices will close and staff will be asked to carry out different customer care roles.

“However, in the case of Rye the proposals are even more severe. Currently the station is staffed 0540 – 1905 Monday – Saturday, and 0810-1545 on Sundays. Southern are proposing to cut this to 0600-1300 Monday – Saturday, and have no staff present at all on a Sunday.

“I honestly think this is ludicrous.

“Rye is a busy tourist town, with large numbers of visitors arriving at weekends, both day trippers, and staying visitors for Rye and Camber. To close early during the week is bad enough – many people arrive after 1300 -  but to close early too on a Saturday and remain closed all day on Sunday seems crazy. Weekends can be at least as busy as the weekdays, and much busier in the summer.

"Many passengers may need assistance on arrival at the station, and some aren’t able to use the footbridge. For these mobility impaired passengers who have arrived on the down platform and need to travel back via Ashford it is a very long walk to return to the up platform, via the level crossing. This needs to be explained to them, and if they don’t allow enough time they could easily miss their train, especially as the level crossing barriers will be down.

“We are also trying to develop our own office at Rye station into a community hub. We can’t access our office if the station is not staffed, so the afternoon closure will really affect what we are able to do there.

“We are working really hard to get more people to travel by train, both residents and visitors. I am very concerned that these proposals, if adopted, will really affect people using Rye station, possibly further damaging its visitor economy. People just won’t expect a station like Rye to remain unstaffed all day on a Sunday.

“The consultation period is just three weeks, and closes on 26th July, so there is very little time for our views to be heard. I would urge everyone who might be affected by these changes to respond to the consultation, details of how to do this are at https://www.southernrailway.com/publicconsultation “

Lewes MP, Maria Caulfield, has also urged local residents to take part in a consultation saying:

"I would urge residents to take part in the consultation to feed in their concerns. I understand from the train operators’ view that the vast majority of tickets, around 90%, are sold away from the ticket offices either online or via ticket machines.

"However, there are many people who do not feel able to use ticket machines, apps, or websites to buy tickets. Many people will also want conversations about the best ticket type for them. These people will need to be taken into account by the train operating companies and I would urge anyone who might be impacted by the changes to take part in the consultation before 26th July.”

Go here to have your say:

https://act.newmode.net/action/trades-union-congress/save-your-southeastern-ticket-offices