Railway Stations: Ticket Office Closures

Baroness Seccombe Excerpts

Wednesday 20th September 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con)]

I cannot comment on the noble Baroness’s ticket office specifically, but 99% of transactions at ticket offices last year could have been made either through a ticket vending machine or online.

[Baroness Seccombe (Con)]

My Lords, I travel from Banbury to Marylebone every Monday. When I approach the ticket office there is at least one person ahead of me. I hope that there will be flexibility in this: maybe some stations do not need ticket offices, but places that are busy certainly do.

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con)]

My noble friend is absolutely right. This is not a one-size-fits-all process; this is a consultation, and we will look to see what the independent passenger bodies say when they have finished reviewing all the consultation responses. We believe that that will be towards the end of October.

Railway Station Ticket Offices

Baroness Seccombe Excerpts

Tuesday 13th December 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con)]

A voice behind me said, “Including passengers”, but let us not go there. I will take that back to my department.

[Baroness Seccombe (Con)]

My Lords, the person who sold me my ticket yesterday certainly made her views clear. She said, “What’s all this nonsense about doing away with the House of Lords? They can’t do that, can they?”

[A noble Lord]

Hear, hear!

Disabled People: Blue Badges

Baroness Seccombe Excerpts

Wednesday 26th March 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Kramer]

My Lords, I say to the noble Lord, Lord Touhig, that I would be very pleased to meet, so we will make sure that that goes into the diary. Your Lordships will be aware that, as the DWP is reassessing DLA claimants for the new PIP benefit, those who do not qualify under the relevant PIP can retain their existing blue badge until it expires so that there is a time period to get into the new programme by applying to the local authority. The department is clarifying its guidance, which is being written at the moment, to make it clear to local authorities that any permanent disability can be physical or otherwise. In other words, it need not be physical. The test is that it causes very considerable difficulty in walking; that is the qualification for a blue badge.

[Baroness Seccombe (Con)]

My Lords, blue badges are a very precious privilege. For my husband, they were a life changer. Does the Minister agree that there is nothing so irritating as seeing a young, fit person using a blue badge to park illegally, and is there any more that can be done to stop that illegal practice?

[Baroness Kramer]

My noble friend is absolutely right that abuse of the blue badge system is thoroughly despicable, and we are determined to stamp down on it very hard. This House has played an important role, as my noble friend Lady Thomas of Winchester brought through the House the Disabled Persons’ Parking Badges Act 2013, which enables enforcement officers to operate in plain clothes and to seize badges that are being misused by any person. That is a very significant difference. We have introduced a nationwide database so that enforcement officers can check all UK blue badge details and download a photograph of the holder at the roadside on handheld devices. There have also been a number of other regulatory and administrative changes, all of which strengthen enforcement. At this point in time they are sufficiently new that I do not have figures to indicate how effective the scheme has been, but anecdotally local authorities are informing us that it has greatly strengthened their hand.

Railways: High Speed 2

Baroness Seccombe Excerpts

Tuesday 21st May 2013 Grand Committee

[Baroness Seccombe]

My Lords, I, like others, congratulate my noble friend on bringing this matter before the House again. Many issues surround this expensive, grandiose and, in my eyes, not needed venture, but perhaps I may first declare my interest, as HS2 slices right through the magnificent farmland and rural communities of the constituency where I live. We are blighted not only by this but also by the threat and horror of wind turbines. The M40 runs through the constituency, so, altogether, we feel that we have been singled out for a battering. This seems to me to be the industrialisation of our beautiful countryside. People’s lives are being ruined as they assess their plight, and I feel particularly concerned for those who would apparently not be compensated because they live very close to HS2 but not close enough to benefit from compensation.

If this venture is to proceed, it seems very strange that the Government did not choose to build the line in the corridor of the M1 and the Birmingham to London railway line. The cost would, I believe, be less, as the blight has already been established, and the links around Birmingham and Birmingham International could be addressed much more simply than the present plans reveal.

The business case for this project seems to be very flimsy, and it is difficult to find reliable figures in support of it. I heard on Radio 4 last week that the benefit/cost ratio has been reduced from 2.4:1 to 1.6:1. It is inconceivable that the £33 billion cost will not increase—all public projects do. We are told that HS2 will deliver 100,000 new jobs some time in the future but, as Margaret Hodge said, the business case is,

“clearly not up to scratch”.

It is very difficult to accept the situation. There seems to be no evidence for the Department for Transport’s claim that HS2 would deliver regional economic growth. It just seems to be an ambitious fantasy pipe dream that would be constructed at an unaffordable cost to the taxpayer.

Since the privatisation of the railways, I have marvelled at the transformation of rail services. My nearest station is Banbury, so I can travel to London on the Chiltern line. We have new trains that are all fitted with wi-fi, enabling passengers to work on their computers in the comfort of carpeted carriages. Travel time is seen not as a waste of time but as quiet time away from phones before the start and hurly-burly of the day. The journey of 55 minutes, arriving at Marylebone on time, is impressive, and it seems to me that we travel at high enough speeds now.

I try not to travel at peak times, but if seats are in short supply, as many others have said, longer platforms to accommodate longer trains would be the answer. This would involve developing our infrastructure, thus bringing much-needed employment to all parts of the country now, not in the years to come. I do not know how many would profit from HS2, but it would be few compared with the many who would benefit from the upgrading of all stations on commuter routes.

There is much work to do on a business plan before the project could be approved and, most importantly, a great deal of research is needed to consider the environmental damage that would be caused. We should never forget that we are the custodians of our precious countryside and so, for the sake of all, we must not destroy our rural communities and the treasured way of life that is our heritage.

Railways: Electrification

Baroness Seccombe Excerpts

Wednesday 18th July 2012 Lords Chamber

Asked By

[Baroness Seccombe]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what will be the economic and environmental benefits of the electrification of English and Welsh railways.

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, electrification is expected to lead to a number of benefits, including higher acceleration and higher top speeds than diesel stock, greater capacity, and lower costs of leasing, maintenance and operation. These savings can lead to reductions in the long-term cost of the rail industry. Electric trains are more environmentally friendly than diesel trains and electrification should make rail freight more competitive with road, reducing environmental damage and congestion.

[Baroness Seccombe]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that Answer. I welcome the Statement on the electrification of the east Midlands and other lines most enthusiastically along with the upgrades to mainline stations and extensions to platforms. As the Prime Minister said,

“this investment will mean faster journeys, more seats … greater … links and a truly world class rail network”.

Does my noble friend agree with me that the specification for any future project should ensure that it is for the benefit of the many and not the few?

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, my noble friend is quite ingenious. I have a feeling that she really wants to talk about HS2. I absolutely agree with her that future projects should be for the benefit of the many and not the few. However, HS2 is not predicated on a very high-cost service for senior businessmen paid for by everyone—a sort of Concorde on tracks. HS2 passenger demand forecasting is based on the current fare structure. It is also essential to understand that the west coast main line will run out of capacity if we do nothing. It is only a matter of time.

Railways: High Speed 2

Baroness Seccombe Excerpts

Wednesday 11th July 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Seccombe]

My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend Lord Astor for bringing this highly important, and for some of us, hypersensitive matter before the House this evening. First, I wish to declare my interest as the President of the Kenilworth and Southam Conservative Association. The constituency lies in the heart of magnificent rolling country of fields, trees and hedges. It comprises glorious productive farming land where at present the residents live with the constant threat of monstrous wind turbines. Now a blight has been added to their fears, with the further threat of high-speed trains ripping through their homes and farms.

I know that many of your Lordships have studied the project in detail. I am not in that category but, as a commuter who has heard innumerable local views, I feel I should express my position. If the fearsome amount of £33 billion has been identified, it should be used for the maximum benefit of us all, not for the few rich northern commuters who would save minutes from a journey at the expense of the long-suffering travelling public and the whole network.

Turning to the chosen route of HS2 Ltd, I am saddened that the company has refused to meet community forums. It has also refused to allow bilateral meetings at which specific counterproposals would have been suggested, which denies local people the chance to give their views. I can imagine that when HS2 Ltd finalises the route in November, there will be considerable irritation.

Lastly, I turn to blight. The planned consultation on a long-term compensation scheme is yet to begin, despite being expected in the spring. The delay is obviously causing anguish. The exceptional hardship scheme allows compensation only when your reason for sale is included on the Government’s list. That is not acceptable so I hope that great care is being taken to produce a system that people can live with. If we have to live with this scheme, I plead that someone who needs to downsize for income or medical reasons, for instance, but is able to sell only at a discount price, should be listened to with understanding and compassion.

Altogether, this is a bad scheme and a huge waste of money which should be dropped. I know that the Minister is fair and sensible and will take our message to his colleagues. I look forward to his reply.