TSSA slams ticket office closures and redundancies

Rail union TSSA has called on the public to oppose the mass closure of ticket offices across the railway in England as it accuses rail bosses of trying to bring in redundancies by stealth. 

The union – which has many hundreds of members working in ticket offices - is promising to strongly resist the plans and is calling for huge public participation in the consultation process over the next three weeks. 

With train operating companies today making it clear ticket office closures will lead to redundancies the union condemned the Rail Delivery Group – a proxy for Ministers and the Department for Transport - for effectively ripping up the deal which ended the union’s involvement in the national rail dispute. 

Commenting, TSSA Interim General Secretary, Peter Pendle said: “We will continue to oppose ticket office closures which make no sense when it comes to running a railway for all and building up services in the post-Covid era. 

"Ticket office staff are hugely valued by the travelling public, and we urge commuters to resist these foolish plans by sending the government a crystal-clear message that they are on the wrong track.  

“However, what we are seeing today from the train companies – no doubt pushed by the government – is widespread plans for redundancies by the back door. This amounts to the shredding of the settlement we reached which ended our involvement in the national rail dispute and has left members furious.”