Railway station ticket offices at Alnmouth and Morpeth face the axe

The Rail Delivery Group confirmed today (Wednesday) that operators “across the country are launching passenger consultations to move staff from ticket offices and into stations”.

And Northern has stated that it is proposing to axe the ticket offices at 131 of its stations, including Alnmouth and Morpeth. Only 18 of these offices will remain open at stations across its network.

A public consultation has now started and will run until the end of July 28. As part of the frequently asked questions on its consultation website, Northern says that ‘where stations are currently staffed, they will continue to have presence from Northern colleagues, although on average for fewer hours per week’.

Staffing at the stations is a key issue that has been raised previously by the South East Northumberland Rail User Group (SENRUG).

Dennis Fancett, chairman of SENRUG, said that groups including the elderly and disabled people, as well as tourists, would be particularly affected if stations were not staffed or staffed less frequently.

Speaking before the plans were confirmed, he added: “We are more neutral on how staff are deployed at stations, as we think they don't necessarily have to be based behind a counter, but redeploying staff will not save any money.

“Therefore, cutting staff numbers in a bid to save money wouldn't be acceptable to SENRUG. We don't think it would save money either as it would mean fewer people using trains.

“The rail ticket system is extremely complicated and so if the Government feels it has to close ticket offices, it should have made the system more straightforward, and fairer, first.

“As an extra point, why couldn't they and train operators have considered the ticket offices also being a post office, also selling sweets and newspapers and/or also providing Amazon lockers?”

Tricia Williams, chief operating officer at Northern, said: “Across all business sectors the way people consume, access and purchase products and services has changed.

“Rail is no different – only one in six journeys on Northern services are purchased through a ticket office, this compares to almost half of all journeys in 2018.

“We need to modernise to meet the changing needs of our customers and we are seeking views from the public on these proposals.

“They include the creation of a new, more visible customer facing role that will offer a wider range of support across our stations.”

For in-depth information on the public consultation and how you can get involved, go to www.northernrailway.co.uk/consultation-2023

Last year, analysis by the RMT suggested that more than 1,000 ticketing offices in the country across 15 different operators were at risk and it claimed that this would lead to redundancies.

RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch said: “The decision to close up to 1,000 ticket offices and to issue hundreds of redundancy notices to staff is a savage attack on railway workers, their families and the travelling public.

“Travellers will be forced to rely on apps and remote mobile teams to be available to assist them rather than having trained staff on stations.”

Jacqueline Starr, Rail Delivery Group chief executive, said: “The ways our customers buy tickets has changed and it’s time for the railway to change with them.”