Rail company cuts ticket office hours, just a year after national closure programme was abandoned

A train company has planned partial closures of 14 ticket offices across its network by “stealth”, say campaigners, a year after the rail industry was forced to back down over plans to shut nearly 1,000 of them across England.

Disabled campaigners and allies believe Southeastern’s plans will have a drastic negative impact on disabled passengers and others who need support to use rail services.

There are now fears that other train operating companies across the railway network might be planning similar moves, after they were all forced last year to abandon more extensive cost-cutting plans to completely close many of their ticket offices.

The government said this afternoon that it was now examining Southeastern’s plans “to ensure passengers remain supported”.

Freedom of information responses obtained by the Association of British Commuters (ABC)* – which campaigns for equality and justice in public transport – show that Southeastern is cutting the opening hours of ticket offices at the 14 stations in Kent, East Sussex and south-east London by six or seven hours a day, for at least five days a week, through its secretive Ticket Office Project Change Programme.

Changes at two of the stations have already been introduced, while the other reductions are set to be introduced early next year.

The company has avoided the need for a public consultation by describing the changes as “minor” under section 17 of the guidance that covers ticket office opening hours.

The cuts were originally proposed two years ago, so Southeastern has already secured Department for Transport (DfT) approval from the last government.

It is not yet clear whether other train-operating companies are engaged in similar attempts to reduce ticket office opening hours.

Among the concerns raised last year by disabled passengers who campaigned against the permanent closure of nearly 1,000 ticket offices across the country – which were abandoned 12 months ago – were over the accessibility of ticket vending machines and how a closure of ticket offices would increase anti-social behaviour and crime.

They also raised fears about the availability of hearing loops if ticket offices were closed; the loss of easily accessible “focal points” at stations; reduced access to waiting-rooms and toilets; the difficulty of navigating stations, for example for blind passengers; and discounted tickets that are only available at ticket offices.

Some or all of these concerns will now apply to the new cuts to ticket office opening hours.

A draft equality impact assessment (EIA), carried out by Southeastern, claims the impact of the changes on disabled people will be “minor”, but much of the information in the documents has been redacted.

In the EIA, Southeastern uses a similar defence to the one used by the rail industry when it fought last year’s campaign against the permanent closures, stating: “This change will help our people start to think differently about their roles and prioritise the customer service they are brilliant at giving rather than primarily being an underused sales point.

“This will be a beneficial mindset change for our passengers who will get a dedicated customer service expert to help them with their journeys.”

This suggests the changes will lead to no staffing cuts, while Southeastern said yesterday (Wednesday) that there would be no change to the hours the 14 stations are staffed “so there won’t be any impact on customer assistance”.

But the EIA suggests that Southeastern has already secured reductions through voluntary redundancies, which has only left enough staff “for a morning shift”.

Examples of the cuts to ticket office opening hours are a reduction of more than seven hours a day at Bexleyheath, Monday to Saturday; nearly seven hours fewer at Beckenham Junction, Monday to Saturday; and more than seven hours a day fewer at New Eltham from Monday to Friday, and six hours 40 minutes fewer on Saturdays.

The partial closures appear to come on top of the company’s failure to meet its existing duties on ticket office opening hours.

Only twice across 26 periods in two years has Southeastern met those duties across at least 80 per cent of its stations, ABC has discovered, with an average of just 74 per cent compliance with its duties.

Emily Yates, co-founder of ABC, pointed to the organisation’s 2023 campaign coalition letter, which raised the alarm about schedule 17, and how it could be used to destaff the network.

She said it was “completely absurd that after 680,000 responses to the 2023 ticket office consultation (PDF), this evidence is not being used to take staffing decisions.

“Instead, this operator is taking actions based on questionable decisions taken in 2022, which did not take any account of the impact on accessibility.

“The DfT must act immediately to prevent these ticket office cuts going ahead.

“They also need to enforce ticket office staffing hours, publish compliance figures for all operators, and take overall responsibility for staffing strategy – ensuring that there is always a member of staff present to provide assistance.

“Ultimately, the government needs to end this flawed system of staffing regulation once and for all.

“Currently it is only ticket office staffing that is even regulated, and there is no transparency whatsoever about other staffing numbers.

“We need to see the regulation of all staff, complete transparency about staffing figures of all types, and duties to consult on all changes relating to accessibility.”

Disabled activist Paula Peters, who first alerted ABC to the partial closures, after being contacted by a Southeastern employee, said: “Disabled people across the UK were very much involved in the national campaign by the RMT union and community groups to keep the ticket offices open in 2023.

“There was a huge backlash from the public over the public consultations to close the ticket offices.

“Disabled people wanted the ticket offices kept fully open and needed them kept open.

“That Southeastern are using schedule 17 without a public consultation to restrict ticket office opening hours shows the scant regard they have for disabled passengers’ access needs and safety.”

She added: “As a disabled passenger, I need frequent access to trains to London for hospital appointments.

“These are major changes for disabled people like me who need the access to the ticket offices to make sure I get the best price for my journey but also assist with journey planning and access to the station.

“By restricting ticket office hours, this will be another barrier for me to travel safely and have my needs met.”

A DfT spokesperson said this afternoon: “We recognise the vital role ticket offices play in the journeys of people with disabilities, and we have no plans to close them.

“These ticket office changes were agreed under the previous government.

“The department is now examining Southeastern’s plans to ensure passengers remain supported.”

Southeastern insisted yesterday that it did not conceal the changes, and it claimed they were first publicised by the industry’s Rail Delivery Group in 2022, before the process was paused during last year’s national consultation.

It claimed that the new opening hours were publicised on its website and on station posters last month.

It also claimed that additional platform staff would be in place to mitigate the impact on disabled passengers of the ticket offices not being open.

David Wornham, Southeastern’s passenger services director, said: “In 2022, proposals to adjust hours at 14 of our 141 ticket offices were paused during the national consultation.

“Recently, changes were made at Otford and Deal, which both typically see no more than 10 ticket sales per hour each shift.

“We plan to adjust hours at another 12 ticket offices in 2025.

“Stations will remain staffed, with accessibility and safeguarding assistance provided by platform staff.”

He also said: “Following a national consultation confirming that no ticket offices will close we are recruiting and training around 100 additional ticket office staff this year.

“To date we have recruited 97 of these and this will lead to significantly increased ticket office hours.”

He added: “We are committed to enhancing accessible travel across our network, helping more people every day.

“Our website and posters display staffing and ticket hours for each station, making it easy for customers to find available assistance.

“Passenger assistance, both booked and unbooked, is experiencing strong growth, with an overall customer satisfaction rating of 97 per cent.”

*Visit ABC’s website for more details of its investigation

Picture: Sarah Leadbetter, from The National Federation of the Blind of the UK, protesting last year at the threatened mass closure of ticket offices

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