Ticket office closure plan causes concern

Matt Harrison said not having staffed ticket offices would affect his job

A man with a degenerative condition affecting his eyesight says closing hundreds of railway station ticket offices will make his life harder.

Matt Harrison, from Nottingham, only has a small amount of peripheral vision.

He said plans to remove in-person station centres would drastically affect other disabled people.

A consultation on the proposals - which will affect stations across the country - is open until 26 July.

East Midlands Railway, which wants to close 13 ticket offices, said only about 5% of tickets were bought in the offices, and it wanted to make staff more mobile to meet demand.

Some stations will also be reduced to having staff make daily visits, with others moved onto weekly calls.

'Rely on people'

Campaigners representing more than 150 groups supporting the disabled and elderly handed a petition to the government on Wednesday calling for the ongoing consultation to be stopped.

Mr Harrison, who works for a charity helping the blind, said issues with machines and online services meant he and others with similar conditions could not travel and do their jobs without on-site staff.

"We can't use the ticket machines, because they're not accessible," he said.

"There's also not consistent ticket machines across the country, so people who are partially sighted, they couldn't even learn the location of particular buttons.

"Half the time they're not working anyway, so we really rely on the people in the railway ticket office, who do a lot more than just sell a ticket."

East Midlands Railway said: "These proposed changes are aimed to bring railway staff closer to customers, better match demand with resources, and ensure value for money for the taxpayer."

Follow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail]