Rail passengers have been given more time to comment on the proposed closure of hundreds of ticket offices across the UK, including at Witley, Milford and Godalming stations.
Many Hambledon residents use these stations on the Waterloo to Portsmouth line operated by South Western Railway.
The closures (see previous news story here http://www.hambledonsurrey.co.uk/?p=17952 ) are proposed by the Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators. Passengers were originally given until July 26 to comment. Following widespread concern, this has now been extended until September 1st.
The RDG says it wants to close ticket offices as many travellers buy on-line or at platform ticket machines. It also states that it wants to bring staff out from behind counters to provide support to customer on platforms, but it is hard to see how such a proposal would work as small country stations such as Witley and Milford with just two platforms and only one train an hour outside peak times.
If you would like to comment on the proposals, you can do so here – https://www.raildeliverygroup.com/uk-rail-industry/customer-focused-reform/customer-focused-stations.html#consultation
Our photograph below shows the ticket office and waiting room at Milford Station.
The train operators seem to have two conflicting policies. They want to reduce the staff on the trains to driver only and now they want to drastically reduce staff at railways stations from an already low level. Surely at this juncture the needs of passengers must be assessed and respected. Elderly travellers, families/mothers with small children, wheelchair users, push chair users and cyclists need more support than the average working age commuter. It is possible to envisage such support being rendered by staff on the train but absolutely not if the train staffing is solely the driver. Equally if a… Read more »