Local groups of blind and partially sighted (BPS) people are welcoming a government U-turn on ticket office closures, following a joint campaign with national sight loss charity Thomas Pocklington Trust (TPT).
They are also calling for a government strategy to immediately tackle wider accessibility issues raised as part of the consultation.
Sight Loss Councils, funded by TPT, are local groups led by blind and partially sighted volunteers. Together they work with organisations to ensure what they do is accessible and inclusive.
Throughout the summer, Thomas Pocklington Trust and partners have been campaigning on proposals to close nearly 1,000 rail ticket offices across the country. This activity includes working with partners to lobby government, transport providers and appearing on TV stations across the country alongside local Sight Loss Councils.
Following this campaign, travel watchdogs Transport Focus and London TravelWatch reported that they received more than 750,000 consultation responses and, of these, 99 per cent were objections. Following this, the Transport Minister reported that ticket offices would not close.
Key issues raised include concerns around accessibility, ticket machine capability, and how passenger assistance and information would be delivered in future.
A Sight Loss Council spokesperson said:
“Travel is already challenging enough. Before the consultation even began, blind and partially sighted people had told us that accessible public transport was most important to them. It is vital for people to be able to travel so they can work, socialise and live their lives. Without it, many people will become isolated.
“Ticket offices provide a readily accessible and easy point of assistance for blind and partially sighted people – and much more than just tickets. This is because of wider accessibility issues in the rail network an at stations. Roaming staff were also never an acceptable alternative because many blind and partially sighted people can’t see them.
“What we need is a national government strategy to address all of the issues raised in this consultation. We are also calling on transport providers to work alongside blind and partially sighted people to make transport accessible using their power of lived experience.”
