Proposed closure of Preston and Chorley rail ticket offices stirs up anger for blind and disabled users

A street access campaigner has hit out at plans to close railway ticket offices in Preston and Chorley which would also mean locking a disabled toilet when no staff are present.

The rail industry announced this month that a public consultation over the proposed closure of almost every one of the ticket facilities across England - including at Preston, Blackpool North and Chorley stations - amid claims that only around 1 in 10 passengers now use them.

Street Access Campaign Co-ordintor Sarah Gayton, 52, has hit out at the proposed plans and called them “shocking”. Sarah, who has visited both the Preston and Chorley offices with a placard saying “Please do not shut ticket offices down”, has also helped with a petititon to number 10, told the Post that the closures would be detrimental for those who blind, visually impaired, disabled and older people.

She said: ”All the ticket office windows in Chorley and Preston are going to shut. There will be significantly reduced hours on weekdays, Saturday and no service on Sunday. There will be no human to buy a ticket from. This is disastrous for the blind, visually impaired, disabled and older passengers.

“It’s shocking. The disabled toilet will also be out of action when there is no staff there. This cannot be allowed to happen. The consultation is a sham, we do not need an extension we need it withdrawn along. No ticket offices should be closed in England.”

Two disabled rail users have also launched a legal challenge to the rail industry’s consultation on the planned closure of hundreds of rail ticket offices across England over the next three years. Regular rail travellers Sarah Leadbetter, who is registered blind, and Doug Paulley, a wheelchair user who has hearing loss, claim that the consultation is unlawful and discriminates against disabled people. They argue giving people just 21 days to respond to some of the biggest changes to railway operations for a generation is inadequate and breaches legal requirements for such consultations.