Under threat railway ticket offices at Leamington, Warwick and Warwick Parkway look set to be saved

Railway ticket offices at Leamington, Warwick and Warwick Parkway, which were under threat of closure, now look set to be saved.

The UK government has told train operators to withdraw plans to close railways station ticket offices in England after a transport watchdog objected to plans for widespread closures.

Plans to close the railways ticket office were brought forward by the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) and train operators.

Plans would have seen the vast majority of ticket offices in English stations closed, including those in Leamington, Warwick and Warwick Parkway.

Matt Western, MP for Warwick and Leamington, led a petition against the closures.

But this week Transport Focus chief executive Anthony Smith said: “Following analysis of the 750,000 responses to the consultation and in-depth discussions with train companies Transport Focus is objecting to the proposals to close ticket offices. Significant amendments and changes have been secured by the watchdog – for example, reverting to existing times when staff will be on hand at many stations. Some train companies were closer than others in meeting our criteria.

“However, serious overall concerns remain about how potentially useful innovations, such as ‘welcome points’ would work in practice. We also have questions about how the impact of these changes would be measured and how future consultation on staffing levels will work.

“Some train companies were unable to convince us about their ability to sell a full range of tickets, handle cash payments and avoid excessive queues at ticket machines.Passengers must be confident they can get help when needed and buy the right ticket in time for the right train."

Matt Western MP said: “This is a real victory for our local, community-led campaign against these flawed plans from the Government and I am relieved they have finally heard the strength of feeling from the public.

"The over 1,100 local residents who signed my petition demonstrated the huge local opposition to these proposals and how valued our brilliant ticket office staff are at Warwick, Leamington and Warwick Parkway.

“The closure of ticket offices would have significantly impacted upon passengers’ experience and left many rail users without the support they need. These issues were clear from the beginning, and it should not have taken massive public opposition for the Government to see this.

“However, I’m really proud of our victory on this campaign and thank all residents for their support in making sure our voices were heard.”

Transport Secretary Mark Harper added: “The consultation on ticket offices has now ended, with the Government making clear to the rail industry throughout the process that any resulting proposals must meet a high threshold of serving passengers. We have engaged with accessibility groups throughout this process and listened carefully to passengers as well as my colleagues in Parliament.

"The proposals that have resulted from this process do not meet the high thresholds set by ministers, and so the Government has asked train operators to withdraw their proposals. We will continue our work to reform our railways with the expansion of contactless Pay As You Go ticketing, making stations more accessible through our Access for All programme and £350 million funding through our Network North plan to improve accessibility at up to 100 stations.”

Louise Rubin, head of policy at disability equality charity Scope, said: “This is a victory for the hundreds of thousands of disabled people who called out the absurdity of closing ticket offices.

“These plans made no sense in the context of our inaccessible rail network, and would have resulted in more people being stranded without the support they need.

“We’re pleased the Government has halted these plans in their tracks, but they can't stop here. One in four of us is disabled. Government must now create long-overdue changes so that every disabled person can use our transport system with confidence."