Illustration by John Sadler www.johnsadlerillustration.com 

• THE government’s proposed closure of railway ticket offices will cause genuine hardship and inconvenience to millions of older and disabled people, who were not brought up to use computers.

Ticket machines are not the answer as they often go wrong and, at times, don’t work at all. They also only give the most expensive fares.

Mark Harper, the transport minister, is being totally dismissive and marginalising millions of people; he only cares about saving money and to hell with the consequences.

He is proposing putting the staff on platforms and turning the ticket offices into coffee shops and bakeries, which we don’t need.

What happens if a person turns up at a station where the staff have gone home after their shift and they can’t use the ticket machine, or a blind person, how are they to cope, or even a person with learning difficulties?

If a person out of frustration boards a train without a ticket, they will be fined £100. This is a new rule, even if you offer to pay the fare.

How do people who don’t do things online get the correct tickets and discounts, without a person in the ticket office to talk to?

The whole idea is dismissive, smug and self-satisfied. Older people in Mark Harper’s world count for nothing, we must fight and win this argument.

Equally, Harper and his associates have put pressure on the mayor to get rid of London Day Travelcards, which means that people will no longer get an over-60s discount on travel on transport in London. This means using an Oyster card, which does not give the concessions on the over-60s card.

The mayor has already admitted that this will make travel much more expensive and bring him in an extra £40million.

The national media is saying nothing about this, nothing is being done to organise a national campaign against these proposals. Why not?

If we lose these services, which have existed for a very long time, we will never get them back again. We need action now.

JOHN SCOTT-MORGAN
Address supplied