Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to mitigate disruptions resulting from rail ticket office closures.

When proposing any changes to the opening hours, or the closure of ticket offices, the train operating companies must follow the process set out in the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement (TSA) and take steps to mitigate any potential disruption to passengers.

Passengers should have access to a ticketing system which is user-friendly, where help and advice from a trained representative is available and is accessible to all. We want to move staff out from behind the ticket office window to more visible roles across stations to provide more face-to-face help and assistance to passengers. This would create an opportunity to position staff to provide support where passengers need them the most, on the gateline or platform, whilst still allowing them to help passengers with purchasing tickets when needed. Any potential changes to the opening hours of ticket offices would be led by the train operating company and would need to follow the process set out in the TSA.