The leader of Richmond Council has registered a formal objection to station ticket office closures and staff cuts.

The changes at stations across the borough will mean many no longer have a ticket office at all, while staff will be withdrawn completely on some days of the week.

The closures and cuts have been condemned by residents as well as community groups and campaigners representing disabled travellers.

Councillor Gareth Roberts said: "It is impossible to view the proposals as anything other than a serious degradation of service for passengers."

A number of the stations, which are operated by South Western Railway(SWR), will lose staff completely on some days of the week as revealed by Nub News – https://richmond.nub.news/news/local-news/borough-disability-champions-slam-rail-station-ticket-office-closures-as-details-revealed-191096

Passengers can make their views known through several routes, including the SWR website – https://www.southwesternrailway.com/station-change-proposal

Alternatively, objections can be made by visiting https://www.transportfocus.org.uk/  or https://www.londontravelwatch.org.uk/

Cllr Roberts said: "At stations such as Hampton we will see the manning of the station reduced from nearly 12 hours a day Monday to Friday, to just four hours a day over the same period, excluding Monday.

"Weekend operating hours will be reduced on Saturday from approximately ten hours' staffing to just four hours' staffing. Sunday, which currently has a six hour staffing window, will have no staffing at all.

"This picture is replicated, with minor variations, across the majority of the network of stations covering the borough.

"Only Richmond and Twickenham will see an upgrade in terms of staffing hours, however it remains to be seen how having staff members roaming the entirety of the station will be an improvement over the presence of an easily identifiable staff member in a fixed location."

Cllr Roberts said: "I am also mindful of the fact that these proposals have been roundly condemned by various organisations, not least our local disability charity RUILS.

"I would also question the wisdom of such wholescale reductions of staffing hours given the proposals to remove guards from trains. If there are no guards and no station staff, how will those with accessibility needs have the confidence to travel by train in the future?

"I urge those who will have the ultimate decision-making authority in relation to these proposals to reject them in their entirety."

SWR admitted that as many as one in four tickets are bought via a ticket office, rather than using an App or some other digital tech option. However, it defended the closures saying: "This proposal forms part of plans to modernise the railway and bring it more in line with modern consumer expectations.

"Over the past decade, we have seen significantly reduced usage of ticket offices as customers move to alternative, more convenient ways of buying tickets.

"Seventy-five per cent of SWR passenger journeys are already made using smart media - contactless, Oyster, Tap2Go, SWR Touch Smartcards, eTickets

The vast majority of ticket types are already available via smart media, online or at ticket vending machines."

It added: "To modernise our retailing offer, we are proposing to transition our station colleagues to new multi-skilled roles with a clear focus on helping our customers.

"Our proposals will create a single team on each station, working together to help customers with different aspects of their journeys from journey planning to ticket purchasing."