THOUSANDS of rail passengers, workers and campaigners took a stand today against plans by Tory ministers to force industry bosses to close virtually every ticket office across England. 

A nationwide day of action organised by the RMT union saw protests outside train stations in Hull, Liverpool, Dover, Nottingham, Leeds, Bristol, London and elsewhere amid growing outrage over the damaging move.

Unions have warned that the draconian approach would lock vulnerable passengers out of the network and lead to a near total de-staffing of the railways, putting all travellers at risk and costing thousands of jobs. 

Today’s action — set to be repeated next Wednesday — follows last month’s announcement from watchdogs Transport Focus and London TravelWatch that a public consultation over the proposals has been extended to September 1 following hundreds of thousands of responses from angry passengers. 

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch accused the government and industry bosses of being determined to de-staff the network — a move which he stressed the public knows would make the railways less safe, secure and accessible. 

As he handed out leaflets at Penzance train station, Mr Lynch urged people to “mobilise to defeat these plans which are part of the Tory government’s agenda of dehumanising the railway on behalf of private operators and their shareholders.

“If Transport Focus and London Travelwatch do object to ticket office closures next month, then the decision will go to Transport Secretary Mark Harper.

“At this point, there would be a renewed campaign to put the pressure directly on [him] to keep ticket offices open.”

According to the BBC, 299 stations in England run by train companies with Department for Transport (DfT) contracts have a full-time staffed ticket office, with 708 staffed part-time. Under the proposals, the vast majority would be shut down.

Train operating companies, which are coming under increasing pressure from the architects of austerity in Downing Street to cut costs, argue that only 12 per cent of tickets are now bought at station kiosks, with most purchased online.

But RMT peppered its social media channels today with pictures and videos of busy ticket offices across the country, with the ironic comment: “Nobody uses ticket offices anymore!”

Nobody using Liverpool Lime Street ticket office!#SaveTicketOffices pic.twitter.com/6pBkBVL9FK

— RMT (@RMTunion) August 9, 2023

It also used Twitter to highlight examples of ageing ticket machines being out of order at Manchester Piccadilly, Westcliff-on-Sea, Sleaford, Durham and elsewhere, saying: “Thankfully, the ticket office was open, but for how much longer?”

The union has joined fellow transport union TSSA to stress that older people and disabled passengers are often reliant on kiosks to buy tickets and seek advice and support.

Earlier this week, TSSA tweeted: “Nothing beats human interaction. We need to #SaveTicketOffices and the real people who run them.”

Both unions have also warned that a further de-staffing of the railway would leave all passengers at risk from anti-social behaviour, pickpockets, muggers and potential emergencies including fires and derailments.

The latest threat to cut jobs follows more than a year of industrial action across the network. 

Tory ministers have repeatedly claimed to be independent arbiters between unions and industry bosses, but the labour movement has noted that the DfT dictates the remit of employers as per their contracts.