THERE was overwhelming opposition to the proposed closure of the ticket office at Taunton Station at a packed public meeting last night (Wednesday, July 26).

The meeting was called by the Taunton Deane LibDems to coordinate the fight against closing the facility.

 

Speakers outlined how train company plans to disperse the ticket office team around the station concourse as a kind of mobile ticketing resource would disadvantage so many travellers who need personal help and assistance.

 

“The idea that you have to roam around Taunton Station hoping to find someone who can help you buy your ticket is just awful,” said Gideon Amos, the LibDem parliamentary candidate for the area who has started a petition opposing the proposals.

“This kind of public service is what makes our country and communities stronger and we must fight to keep it.

"This is a big issue affecting towns and cities across the UK, not just Taunton.”

David Northey, chairman of Travel Watch SW and a recently retired Great Western Railway manager, said he started his career in 1979 at the ticket office counter in Taunton.

He added: “Forty four years later people are still making complex or unfamiliar journeys and still need help to get the right ticket.”

Mr Norhey said a UK system with more than 150 different types of ticket is part of the problem.

Gemma Evans, a wheelchair-user, made the point that automatic ticket machines are not user friendly to many people with disabilities.

“I’d love to put the people behind this scheme in a wheelchair for a day and see how they cope,” she added.

Brenda Weston, a former member of the now defunct Somerset West and Taunton Council, said the proposed closures are being planned without apparent reference to the access rules laid down in the Equality Act.

“If this goes ahead so many people will be excluded from being able to lead a normal life,” she said.

Cllr Mike Rigby, lead member for transport and digital on Somerset Council, told the meeting that when the LibDems took control of the new council last year, his first task was to improve public transport – starting with the Bus It campaign and £1 fare cap in the Taunton area.

“This needs to be a cross-party campaign to stop the ticket office closures,” said Cllr Rigby.

“Even Conservative-led Devon County Council is opposing these awful proposals,” he added.

Following public pressure the train companies have extended the consultation period over the planned ticket office closures by five weeks until September 1.

You can oppose the cuts via TicketOffice.GWR@transportfocus.org.uk or Freepost: RTEH-XAGE-BYKZ, Transport Focus, PO Box 5594, Southend-on-Sea, SS1 9PZ.