Yorkshire mayors set to legally challenge ticket office closures

Earlier this month the Rail Delivery Group announced that the public would have 21 days to have their say to close almost all of the 1,000 remaining ticket offices in the country.

Of the 191 ticket offices in the North, 165 are due to close and would see station staffing reduced by over 250 jobs by Northern Trains alone.

The mayors, including Tracy Brabin, the Mayor of West Yorkshire, and Oliver Coppard, the South Yorkshire Mayor, said that they will go ahead to legally challenge the rail operators including TransPennine and Northern Trains.

If no action is taken by the operators in response to their initial legal letter, then the Mayors will pursue further legal action.

If the consultation was to be suspended, the Mayors would seek an urgent meeting with Ministers to discuss how reform of our railways can be undertaken to the benefit, and not detriment, of passengers.

Tracy Brabin, the Mayor of West Yorkshire, told The Yorkshire Post: “In West Yorkshire, we only have 19 stations with ticket offices and now we only have three left if they go ahead with these plans.

“We are just excluding disabled passengers from travelling.

£We are united as Mayors, representing millions of people across our regions, and we will hold the powerful to account.

“As a commuter, I know how important ticket offices are to the travelling public. We have real concerns over the legality of the proposal to shut them down – it raises questions over accessibility, inclusivity, and safety.

“Travellers who rely on face-to-face advice to buy tickets will be further disadvantaged by this and any reduction in staff will only make train stations less safe for the vulnerable.”

“We successfully challenged ministers for fairer investment in Northern infrastructure, to plug gaps in funding for bus services post-Covid, and to strip failing rail operators of contracts.

“We will continue to challenge unfairness wherever we see it.”