Campaign launched to save train station ticket offices

6th July, 2023

Locally and nationally, Labour are fighting plans to close more than 1000 ticket offices at train stations up and down the country – including almost every single station here in St Helens Borough.

Rail bosses plan to close every office in our borough apart from St Helens Central, leaving the majority of passengers without access to staffed ticket offices and support.

You can sign our petition against the closures here: https://www.sthelenslabour.org/saveourticketoffices/

Louise Haigh MP, Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary, commenting on the Rail Delivery Group publishing proposals for railway station ticket office closures in England, said:

“Despite the concerns of vulnerable passengers, Conservative ministers are ducking and diving from scrutiny.

“They refuse to say how many stations have alternatives to ticket offices, what the impact will be on jobs, or how it will hit vulnerable rail users.

“The Conservatives should come clean, and give passengers the answers they deserve.

“Railroading this decision in just three weeks, without proper consideration for staff and vulnerable passengers, only risks exacerbating the managed decline of the rail network.”

Objecting to the plans, Councillor Seve Gomez-Aspron MBE, Deputy Leader of St Helens Borough Council and Cabinet Member for Strategic Transport, said: “Public and passenger reassurance is heavily reliant on a public facing member of staff, particularly the elderly and people with disabilities and mobility issues, so to close all but one ticket office here has the potential to take away the independence of a large number of residents who rely on public transport.

“They’ve closed the ticket offices in most cases before the consultation period has even started. And it’s not down to austerity or budget cuts, it’s down to profiteering on behalf of privately owned franchise operators.

“As a council, we recognise the significant influence our borough has played throughout history – arguably being the birthplace of the railway -which is why we have successfully lobbied for improvements in our infrastructure, resulting in state-of-the-art stations at Newton-le-Willows and Lea Green which is being built now with a ticket office that will never open.

“We call on the government to reconsider these unpopular plans and would urge residents to take part in the consultation to make their feelings known too.”

Labour will submit a motion on the matter at the next St Helens Borough Council full council meeting to allow the Council to respond within the 21 day consultation period.