Visually impaired adults fear train ticket office closures will isolate them

More than three-quarters of adults with a visual impairment fear proposed changes to close train ticket offices will leave them isolated and unable to use the service confidently. A poll of 200 people with a visual impairment found 85 percent have a local train station with a staffed ticket office.

And 78 percent claim closing these ticket offices would make accessing a train more difficult.

Eleanor Briggs, head of policy and campaigns at the charity Guide Dogs, which is calling on the government to rethink planned proposals to close ticket offices, said: “We need to make sure no-one is left behind.

“The plans to scrap ticket offices at stations across England will only add to the anxiety millions of VI people already feel about using public transport.

“For many people with sight loss, trains are essential to get to work, appointments, or see family.”

The vast majority (82 percent) think the government should rethink the plans, for fear of leaving visually impaired people behind.

Nearly nine in ten (85 percent) also believe the decision is based on money, rather than improving services.

Visually impaired passengers are deemed the group most likely to be negatively impacted by the proposals (64 percent), followed by users with other disabilities (57 percent).

And 45 percent of those polled, via OnePoll, worry how those without access to, or the inability to use, technology effectively, will also struggle.

The public consultation is open for just 21 days, during which people can feed in their views as to whether train ticket station closures should go ahead.

The plans would see the majority of all ticket offices closed in England over the next three years, with the consultation due to end on 26 July.

Sandra Morris, 61, from Devon, who is visually impaired and on the waiting list for a guide dog, said: “I have recently used the train using the ticket office to buy my ticket for a five hour journey.

“Without the ticket office I will not be able to buy my ticket without someone there to help me. I am severely visually impaired, so cannot use the machines. Another piece of my independence being taken away.”