Bath Spa Station staff concerned over ticket office closure

Mr White, a union activist who works at the station, said it has been difficult dealing with the temporary closure

Running a train station with no ticket office is a "shambles" and a "taste of the future", staff have warned.

Bath Spa Station staff have sold tickets on the concourse for two weeks since its office was temporarily shut due to a crumbling ceiling.

The office remains under threat of permanent closure as part of plans to shut ticket offices across England.

A Great Western Railway (GWR) spokesperson said it is working on reopening the ticket office.

They also told Local Democracy Reporting Service, the temporary measures at the station do not reflect how future sales will work.

Robin White, a union activist who works at the station and recently took part in a demonstration against the planned national closures, said it has been difficult dealing with the temporary closure.

"We have had a taste of what its going to be like without ticket offices," he said.

"The public aren't happy, the staff aren't happy - nobody's happy about it."

'A total shambles'

Another worker, who wanted to remain anonymous, said a lot of passengers have travelled for free over the last 12 days "because we have had machines go down"

"We have paid for the ticket office 10 times over. It's been a total shambles," they added.

Bath and North East Somerset Council Joanna Wright said she opposes any possible permanent closure of the ticket office.

"There is already no customer information office at the nearby bus station," she said.

"We are in the middle of a climate crisis and we know that train and bus journeys are the best way forward, and we are not supporting anyone in that process."

Councillor Onkar Saini said the office is "particularly important for tourists in a destination city like Bath".

"I never see, personally, any empty ticket office. It's really vital to keep this ticket office open," he said.

A consultation on plans to close ticket offices across the country and change the way tickets are sold is running until 1 September.

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