Mayors in legal fight over ticket office closures

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

Five Labour mayors have said they are preparing a legal challenge over plans by train operators to shut hundreds of railway station ticket offices.

Plans to close nearly all ticket offices were revealed earlier this month as part of cost-cutting measures.

The Rail Delivery Group said only 12% of tickets were now bought at ticket offices and staff would be redeployed.

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham warned that more than 2,000 jobs could be lost as a result of the closures.

Speaking on Tuesday he said: "We will fight this all the way."

The proposals were announced on 5 July, with a 21-day public consultation due to end on 26 July.

While some ticket kiosks would remain in large stations, elsewhere staff would sell tickets on concourses.

Tracy Brabin said the mayors were "united" to fight the impact of closures on the "most vulnerable"

Mr Burnham was joined by West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin and South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard, Steve Rotheram of the Liverpool City Region and the Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Dr Nik Johnson.

The leaders said the timescale was "totally inadequate" and vowed to fight the plan.

But the move has been met with criticism from disability campaigners and rail unions, with protests taking place at railway stations.

Ms Brabin said the consultation was a "complete shambles".

She said it was a "pernicious policy" which would consign people with disability and vulnerability to a "life of isolation".

Campaigners against the plan gathered at at Scarborough railway station

Mr Coppard said the only ticket offices which would remain in South Yorkshire would be at Sheffield and Doncaster.

"Let's be clear, these are not a redesigning of services, these are cuts," he said.

He added: "These plans to close ticket offices will make rail travel, if not impossible, then much harder for so many.

"That's why, on behalf of passengers, we're calling for these plans to be scrapped, and for the government to finally show some ambition for the railways, not steadily dismantle what was once a world-class service."

Mr Burnham said: "These closures will affect over 2,000 jobs.

"It's just not the case that this is about redeploying staff. This will be a serious reduction in the level of support available to people when they are travelling.

"It will further erode what remains of trust in travelling on our trains and we think it is the wrong move at the wrong time.

"We're very worried that these plans are being railroaded through.

"Today we are confirming that as five mayors representing millions of people across England, we are fighting back."