Richmond Borough Council chiefs are to make a formal objection to station ticket office closures across the borough and they are urging residents to follow suit.

Virtually all commuter stations used by workers and school children will lose their ticket offices and be reduced to a single member of staff, who will only be available for short periods of the day.

A number of the stations, which are operated by South Western Railway(SWR), will lose staff completely on some days of the week as revealed by Nub News – https://richmond.nub.news/news/local-news/borough-disability-champions-slam-rail-station-ticket-office-closures-as-details-revealed-191096

Ruils, which is the lead borough charity supporting disabled children and adults, as well as those with long term health and mental health conditions, has urged people to lodge a formal objection.

It warned: "These proposals are discriminatory and will strip away independent travel for disabled people across the country. We urge everyone in our community to respond and strongly oppose."

Ruils, which is the lead borough charity supporting disabled children and adults, as well as those with long term health and mental health conditions, has urged people to lodge a formal objection.

Last night – Tuesday - Council leader, Gareth Roberts, joined the fight, saying: "There is a consultation period ongoing with regards to the potential closure of ticket offices, not just in this borough but across the country.

"Details have been announced with regards to all of the ticket offices and, in my view, there are some serious degradations to services being planned. For example, my patch in Hampton will see the ticket office, which was run from approximately 6am until 5pm have a reduction in service from 6am to 10am. And it won't be every day of the week, unlike currently."

He added: "There have been grave concerns raised by Ruils and other disability and access charities regarding this.

"I will be writing on behalf of the Council as part of the consultation, and I would urge all members of the public and members of the Council to engage with the consultation process.

"It is only through the consultation process that our voices will be heard."

Details of the proposals and how to lodge an objection can be found here – https://www.southwesternrailway.com/station-change-proposal