The RMT says it has been ‘prevented’ from campaigning against ticket office closures at Workington station in Cumbria.
The union says that posters were taken down along with a public petition that was removed by rail bosses at the station.
RMT says that more than 2000 jobs are to be cut, with 1000 ticket offices set to be closed.
We have approached Northern for a comment.
Condemning the move by Northern, RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “These disgraceful actions by Northern bosses show just how worried they are that the consultation is not going their way.
“We’ve received huge support in every town village and city from across the political spectrum for ticket offices to be kept open.
“Over 100,000 have signed petitions in support of RMT’s campaign to save ticket offices and to maintain a human railway that is well staffed.
“Northern and the rail fat cats are only interested in extracting as much profit as possible and they are determined to use whatever methods they have to disrupt the public exercising their view on the future of ticket offices.
“We will be writing to Northern for an explanation.”
Responses
I think your final comment Mr Spark is pointing the wrong way.
The Government won’t speak to the Unoins and have not followed the process for closing Ticket Offices hence the Court Action the Government will face very soon and the process will be on hold.
Tory Govt doesn’t like the Unions. That’s why Tory’s want everything run by private companies, who in turn donate to the Tory party.
This isn’t Northern: this is the dead hand of DfT trying to manipulate the issue. Having failed to break the frontline operating staff ticket office staff are perceived as an easier target for economies. Unfortunately most of these tosspots have no idea about the real railway and it’s day to day operation.
If it is actually true that Northern have stopped the public support for keeping booking offices open it reflects extremely badly on the Northern management team and the puppeteers operating this railway managed under the Operator of Last Resort system.
Services on my local line have deteriorated since the franchise was removed, not improved since the change.
I travelled earlier this week with Northern and had a train stopped to reboot the system causing late running and then terminated less than half an hour later. Another train was terminated short of destination and yet another one was terminated fifty odd miles from its destination and all passengers forced to change to another train which was already blocking the platform as no driver was available to take it to a siding. Neither driver or guard who continued with the now late replacement train had been given any advance warning
The guard was exceptionally helpful apologising to the delayed and inconvenienced passengers.
Ticket offices must stay.
My wife bought 3 return tickets to Edinburgh on her credit card. Two says before my daughter and I went to the station with my wife’s card only to find the ticket machine wouldn’t read the card. The kind gentleman at the ticket office resolved the problem.
What would I have done if I had left it to the day of travel and no ticket office was available???
I think this strike is too much I working at one of the train station in London and now my company also on strike and I’m staying at home 4 days without pay always on strike days I’m loosing money I’m really fed up of that please stop go on strike or government make ones decision and go for agreement cos is enough.
It’s surely the DfT that’s driving the ticket office closure plan. The TOCs are going along with it, but ultimately it’s the black hand of the Treasury that’s behind this deplorable scheme, which seems designed to reduce accessibility for the disabled, elderly, students and children, the poor, foreign visitors and marginalised groups. The market that will suffer most from ticket office closures is leisure – exactly the one that’s meant to make up for falling commuter numbers.
And it’s a bit rich of Lynch to rail at Northern when it’s the damage that his union’s strikes are inflicting on the railways’ viability that encourages cost-cutting measures of this kind.