Mayors across England have now written to train operators with an up to seven-day warning, setting out the legal action they will take if a consultation to close the majority of rail tickets offices and drastically cut staff available to support passengers across the country, is not halted.
On 5 July, the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) announced, without warning, that the public would have just 21 days to have their say on plans to close almost all of the 1,007 remaining ticket offices in the country.
Mayors from across England came together on Tuesday 18 July to raise their concerns about the plans and to announce that they have taken legal advice on challenging rail operators – TransPennine Express, Northern Trains Ltd, LNER, EMR, Thameslink, Greater Anglia and Avanti – as the type of consultation they are using is inappropriate for changes of this scale, and is being conducted in a chaotic manner.
Four Mayors have now sent pre-action protocol letters to each of the above operators over the last few days, with the last being sent today setting out their course of legal action if the consultation is not halted.
The letters set out the requirements under Section 29 of the Railway Act 2005, a very clear and detailed process which must be followed if a train operating company proposes to close a station or any part of a station. That process starts with an assessment and notification to the Secretary of State for Transport. If the Secretary of State allows the proposal, a 12-week consultation period must follow before a decision is made.
The current plans would impact the most vulnerable in society, including disabled and older people, with many ticket machines at train stations outside of London not being accessible as they are cashless. Of the 467 northern rail stations, 449 have cashless ticket machines.
As part of their case for closures, the RDG have stated that 12 per cent of rail ticket transactions are done at ticket offices – which is in reality still 60 million ticket sales per year. In Greater Manchester, 16 per cent of tickets are sold from ticket offices, a higher figure than the national average. This disparity is also reflected in the fact that nationally, one in every eight tickets is sold at a ticket office whereas the figure across Northern stations is one in every six. Of the 191 ticket offices in the North, 165 are due to close.
The proposals would also see station staffing reduced by over 250 jobs by Northern Trains alone.
Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham: “This consultation is shambolic and totally inadequate and our letter sets out how we will challenge it legally if it is not halted and reviewed now.
“The Government and Train Operating Companies know what they are doing here, they are trying to dress up staff reductions and cost cutting as ‘improvements to customer service’. What’s worse is they are trying to railroad this through by way of a chaotic consultation – that is why we have come together with this legal challenge to suspend the process immediately.
“These closures will impact the most vulnerable in our society, including older and disabled people, and to give them just 21 days to feedback when they are less likely to have internet access, is outrageous. It is clear to us that they are not adhering to the law set out in Railways Act 2005 and we will fight this all the way.
“These plans represent the complete destruction of our rail services. They are trying to close almost every ticket office when services in the north are the most unreliable they have ever been, but prices are still through the roof. It’s almost as if they are trying to drive people away from rail and we are not going to stand for this.”
