PLANS to close the Avanti West Coast ticket office in Glasgow Central Station have been revealed.
A proposal was released today on "the future of ticket retailing", and the public have just 21 days to take part in a consultation on the plans.
It comes amid proposed cuts to ticket offices south of the Border.
There are 1007 stations with ticket offices in England run by train companies operating under contracts issued by the UK Government.
Posters are now being displayed at the vast majority of these, informing passengers about their potential closure.
The industry-wide proposals represent the biggest update to ticket retailing since 1995.
"Customer ambassadors" will take the place of traditional ticket office vendors to "provide advice and support on buying tickets and accessibility needs".
The firm claims that only 12% of tickets are sold at ticket offices today, compared with 82% of sales in the mid 1990s.
Members of the public are being asked to weigh in on the suggested plans for ticket retailing at Avanti's 16 managed stations, including Glasgow Central.
The consultation is being managed by Transport Focus and London TravelWatch.
The proposed changes will be phased in over three years.
Andy Mellors, managing director of Avanti West Coast, said: “It is important for the rail industry to change the way it retails tickets as customer behaviour has evolved over the last three decades.
“Our proposals would mean more staff on hand to give face-to-face help with a much wider range of needs, from journey planning, to finding the right ticket and helping those with accessibility needs.
“Our commitment is that we will always treat our people fairly, with support and extra training to move into new and varied roles with a number of responsibilities without compromising on the safety of them or our customers.
“We also understand that our customers have differing needs which is why we will be consulting with accessibility groups on this consultation.”
For more information about how to have their say, passengers should go to www.transportfocus.org.uk or londontravelwatch.org.uk
Passengers have raised concerns that elderly people could be “digitally excluded” if ticket offices close.
Tim Clark, 65, said: “A lot of people are digitally excluded.
“Doing everything online is very convenient for a huge number of people but it unfortunately ignores those who don’t have that kind of connection, particularly older people.
“I think it’s a good idea to have people around at stations. Machines can be slow as well.
“At peak times you can get long queues so if you are completely reliant on machines (it can take longer).”
Maggie Koumi also struggles to buy train tickets without using a ticket office.
Speaking after using the ticket office at Charing Cross, the 80-year-old Londoner told PA: “I hate modern technology. I’m not very good at using machines anyway.
Full details of the proposals and the public consultation can be found here and here.
