Please join me at Northwich Railway Station from 10.30am this Saturday (July 15) for a peaceful protest against plans to close the ticket office.

Northwich is included in proposals to shut almost every ticket office across England on grounds most people now buy their tickets online or from a machine.

Yet one in nine tickets are still sold at a ticket office. That’s more than 150 million of the 1.4 billion rail journeys last year.

Some disabled, vulnerable and elderly passengers prefer traditional customer service and they have as much right to use public transport as anyone else.

Research by the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) found only three per cent of people with sight loss could use a ticket machine without problems and 58 per cent said it was impossible.

I’m online and use a smart phone, but there are occasions when I depend on face-to-face contact. Because touch-screen machines for ticket collection are out-of-order, for example.

Ticket office staff offer a friendly welcome, a sense of security and reassurance, especially for lone female travellers.

And let’s not forget, when the station partially collapsed in May 2021 it was a ticket office staff member who prevented an oncoming train from colliding with debris on the track. It’s a miracle nobody was killed that day.

I know Northwich ticket office is only open until early afternoon, Monday to Saturday. I’d like to see that extended if we get a Labour Government. But it will be far harder to achieve if there’s no ticket office at all.

Northern Rail promises ‘Journey Maker’ personnel at stations instead. How will that enhance customer service given Northwich will only be staffed for two hours per day in future?

This is all about putting rail company profits before people. And it will result in thousands of staff, including workers in my constituency, losing their jobs.

Northwich Station is the embodiment of our crumbling railways. Even when rebuilt, it’s envisaged the ticket office will be gone and there still won’t be step-free access to the far platform for people with restricted mobility.

Please bring your placard to Saturday’s demo and sign my petition: chng.it/W2vvtBfJ2R Save our ticket office!

To object to the closure by July 26, email: ticketoffice.Northern@transportfocus.org.uk or write to (no stamp needed): RTEH-XAGE-BYKZ, Transport Focus, PO Box 5594, Southend on Sea, SS1 9PZ