Big changes are coming
A ticket office will remain open at Manchester Victoria railway station, but Manchester Piccadilly's has been earmarked to shut under controversial mass closure plans across England announced today.
The operator said ticket offices at a total of 18 stations, including Blackpool North, Leeds, Glossop, Liverpool Lime Street and Warrington Central, as well as those above from Greater Manchester, would remain open - all chosen 'based on location and volume of sales'. The number of hours Northern staff would be available at them, however, will reduce.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport union however, which has been engaged in more than a year of strike action on the railways in a bitter dispute over jobs, pay and conditions, said 'hundreds of redundancy notices' were being issued to ticket office staff. Vivienne Francis, chief social change officer at the Royal National Institute of Blind People , said: "A mass closure of rail ticket offices would have a hugely detrimental impact on blind and partially sighted people’s ability to buy tickets, arrange assistance and, critically, travel independently. RNIB research shows that only 3 per cent of people with sight loss said they could use a ticket vending machine without problems and 58% said it was impossible.
"We also understand that our customers have differing needs which is why we will be consulting with accessibility groups on this consultation." "Along with the rest of the rail industry, Northern is sharing proposals on how we plan to change how we support customers at our stations. These proposals include the creation of a new, more visible customer facing role that will offer a wider range of support across our stations. This new role will mean that the traditional ticket office is no longer required at most staffed Northern stations, except for 18 at hub locations, that will have amended ticket office opening hours.
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