Reprieve for threatened ticket office

Don Valley MP Caroline Flint said that she had “secured a confirmation” that Thorne North railway station, near Doncaster, will keep its ticket office.

However, opening times are to be reduced by half an hour.

Ms Flint said: “It was only when MPs shone a spotlight on plans for widespread ticket office closures that ministers have had to sit up and take notice.

“I wrote to the Secretary of State demanding full disclosure of any decision affecting Thorne North station and now we have it in black and white that our station ticket office stays open.”

In a letter to Ms Flint the Secretary of State for Transport, Justine Greening, confirmed new opening hours for the station ticket office and also says that there are “no further proposals in relation to Thorne North”.

Thorne North station was highlighted as one of the smaller stations at risk in email conversations between civil servants at the Department of Transport.

The office, one of 675 under threat nationally, would have been replaced by automated ticketing machines.