Hebden Bridge protest over railway station ticket office closure

Campaigners gathered at Hebden Bridge railway station to protest against proposed ticket office closures

A protest has taken place at a West Yorkshire railway station threatened with the loss off its ticket office.

About 30 people gathered outside Hebden Bridge railway station chanting "hands off our ticket offices".

The site is one of about 30 stations in Yorkshire where the government has proposed closures.

The plan would see some ticket kiosks replaced by staff on concourses selling tickets, offering travel advice and helping people with accessibility.

Councillor Josh Fenton-Glyn, from Calderdale Council, who took part in the protest, said replacing ticket offices with staff on platforms would mean the "loss of local knowledge".

Councillor Josh Fenton-Glyn said the loss of a ticket office meant the loss of "expert local knowledge"

Mr Fenton-Glyn said staff would be there to check people had tickets and show them how to use the machines, but would not have the "experience found in ticket offices".

"What they don't have is that expert local knowledge, built up over the years, that our ticket officers have," he said.

The councillor told the BBC he had recently saved £30 and made a quicker journey than planned because someone in a ticket office "knew a quicker way".

"That's why we need ticket offices, it helps people get to places more efficiently," he added.

Many rail users, who rely on help at ticket offices, fear the changes will make it harder for them to travel

The rail industry is under pressure from the government to cut costs after being supported heavily during the Covid pandemic.

Jacqueline Starr, chief executive of the Rail Delivery Group which represents train companies, recently said the way customers bought tickets had changed.

Only 12% of tickets were sold at ticket offices last year, she said, with the rest bought online or from vending machines.

The Department for Transport has said the proposals were not about cutting jobs, but about modernising the railway to make sure the sector survived.