Hastings protestors stage demonstration against planned ticket office closures

The event was organised by Hastings & District Trades Union Council and followed on from the demonstration called by Hastings Green Party last Tuesday (July 18).

People held up placards at Saturday’s demonstration.

Cllr Paul Barnett, leader of Hastings Borough Council, who attended the event, said: “We are talking about saving public transport. It’s public transport, not private transport. This government has been steadily privatising it like it’s done with water, electricity, and like it’s doing with the health service and we need unity in all of this to stand up and be counted.

"One thing that has not come out in all of this sham consultation is why do we want people to use the trains? We want them to use the trains to stop them from using their cars, to get people off the roads, to keep the planet save for the future. I think the Government have totally forgotten, if they ever knew, that we are in a climate emergency.”

He added the prospect of people having to use ticket machines ‘that don’t work’ was ‘off-putting for so many people’ and branded the plans to leave Rye railway station ‘completely unstaffed’ for most of the weekend ‘absolutely bonkers’.

Last week’s ‘Save our ticket offices!’ protest was part of day of action called by the rail workers’ union, the RMT, which has spoken out against the proposals.

General Secretary Mick Lynch said: “The decision to close up to 1,000 ticket offices and to issue hundreds of redundancy notices to staff is a savage attack on railway workers, their families and the travelling public.

“Travellers will be forced to rely on apps and remote mobile teams to be available to assist them rather than having trained staff on stations. This is catastrophic for elderly, disabled and vulnerable passengers trying to access the rail network.”

The union is encouraging members of the public to respond to a consultation’, which closes next Wednesday (July 26), using an online webtool: at https://tinyurl.com/save-our-ticket-offices.

On July 5, transport watchdogs London TravelWatch and Transport Focus launched public consultations on behalf of rail operators across the country, including Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), ‘to consider how tickets are sold and to improve customer service in the future’. GTR operates Southern, Thameslink, Gatwick Express and Great Northern services.

A GTR spokesperson said: “The proposal is to move ticket office colleagues out from behind traditional ticket office windows, which would close, onto station concourses The aim is to improve customer service and better reflect how most passengers now buy tickets – nine in 10 purchases are outside of traditional ticket offices. No station that is staffed today would become unstaffed; in-person help would still be available and accessibility support will continue.”