Question marks over the consultation on railway ticket office closures - The Yorkshire Post says

But even the consultation into the proposals have come under fire. Initially the consultation was only due to run for three weeks but the deadline for responses was extended to September 1. As a result more than 680,000 responses were submitted to the consultation.

However, Mick Lynch, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, called the consultation a “sham”, saying the process was designed to ensure the plans are implemented despite strong opposition.

Given the breakdown of relationship between the Government and the RMT, which has led to prolonged disruption as a result of industrial action on the railways, Mr Lynch would say that. But criticism hasn’t just been levelled at the consultation from union quarters.

Katie Pennick, campaigns and communications manager at charity Transport for All, believes many people “have not had a fair opportunity” to comment on the proposals.

She says many operators did not make consultation documents available in accessible formats such as braille or British Sign Language.

This raises questions around the consultation as the fear is that it will be the disabled and elderly that will be greatest impacted by the closures.

The argument for closing ticket offices seems to be simply that people can buy them at machines or online. When the reality is that ticket offices serve multiple purposes.