Government U-turn on ticket office closures!

31st October, 2023

Plans to close ticket offices at hundreds of train stations – including most here in St Helens Borough – have been sensationally scrapped in a government U-turn.

The plans attracted furious protests when announced earlier this year, and campaigners including our local Labour Party fought the proposals. We gathered well over 1000 signatures for our petition against the closures: https://www.sthelenslabour.org/latest-news/2023/08/31/ticket-office-campaign-update/

Council Leader David Baines says: “This is an embarrassing U-turn by the government, but a welcome one. Closing ticket offices would have hit the most vulnerable and significantly harmed services, so keeping them open is the only sensible and fair option.

I would like to thank the 1300 local residents who signed our petition, and all those who fought the plans.”

Cllr Seve Gomez-Aspron, Cabinet Member for Transport, says: “Anyone with an ounce of empathy could see that these plans hit the most vulnerable the hardest.

We would have been in the ludicrous position that the £15m Lea Green Station would be opened with a ticket office that was never to be used.

We are glad that the government has made a U-turn on this community asset strip at a time when train travel should be encouraged, and we thank all of you that backed our campaign to save our stations.”