Ticket Troubles

By New Worker correspondent

The RMT transport union launched a fresh campaign this week to halt London Overground ticket office closures. It is opposing plans to cut hours at 45 stations to the bare minimum and to close the ticket offices altogether at Brondesbury, White Hart Lane and West Hampstead.

London Overground last year planned to close 51 ticket offices on the network. The RMT launched a campaign however, and thousands of London Overground passengers opposed the closures, forcing the Mayor of London to intervene and promise to keep the ticket offices open.

As the New Worker hits the doormats on Friday the union will be having a day of action, with a leafleting and postcard campaign taking place at stations around the capital.

Under the revised new proposals, many stations would only be open in the mornings between 07:30–10:00am, Monday to Friday.

This would equate to a cut in hours of over 65 per cent across the Overground. Many stations are facing cuts in hours of over 80 per cent.

As a result many ticket offices would be closed for large parts of the day, resulting in stations becoming less safe, secure and accessible, and passengers will not be able to access all ticket types and services at a machine. Many people, including some elderly and disabled passengers, would struggle to purchase tickets and get advice.

London Overground is presently owned by the German State rail company, which made a profit of £4.6 million last year so it can well afford to provide a decent public service.

RMT’s General Secretary Mick Cash warned: “These plans to cut ticket office opening hours are about cutting costs and maximising profits and fly in the face of the Mayor’s promise last year to keep the ticket offices open.

“RMT will be fighting to keep ticket offices fully open and oppose the proposed cuts and we expect the same widespread support from the travelling public that we had when fought to save ticket offices last year.”

Anger at plans to close Overground ticket offices

RAIL UNION RMT last week responded to London Overground ticket office and staffing proposals that included plans to cut ticket offices at Overground stations.

The union’s general secretary, Mick Cash, said: "RMT is deeply concerned about the proposals which in our view could see the elimination of ticket offices across London Overground.

“Our experience in the past shows that, despite promises to the contrary, the closure of ticket offices leads to the wholesale destaffing of stations with serious consequences for safety and security.

"These plans have a striking similarity to the Fit for The Future model rolled out on London Underground stations which meant wholesale axing of ticket offices and a net loss in safety critical jobs and which sparked a long running union industrial and political campaign that eventually reversed a ‎sizeable chunk of those cuts.

"RMT is also aware that these proposals are being mapped out against the background of massive central Government cuts to the TfL [Transport for London] budget and those cuts could shape the eventual package.

“The Mayor ‎must give us cast iron assurances that will not happen and we are calling for urgent, top level discussions around the proposals released by TfL today."

Eddie Dempsey, an RMT activist, who is employed by TfL, commented: “Outrageous that on the morning London's transport network suffered another terrorist attack, Arriva Rail London, the privateers who operate London Overground with Transport for London, have announced massive cuts to station staff that could see every ticket office on the network at risk of closure.

“Once again London Underground workers were the first on the scene keeping Londoners safe as they were on 7/7 and once again they're being ignored about the safety implications of transport staff cuts.

“These plans mirror what London Underground did with its Fit for the Future programme (colloquially known as fit for f**k all among LU workers) which lead to a massive shortage of staff and a number of serious safety incidents London Underground couldn't deal with.

“This was despite RMT raising again and again underground workers concerns that these plans would put passengers and staff at risk. It took a combination of safety shortfalls and major strike action by RMT members shutting London down before London regained some hundreds of jobs that had been cut, but not all, or enough.

“Two billion odd cuts to the TfL budget is driving this irresponsible attitude to public safety. The mayor needs to get off the pot and fight for London's transport network and hold off the cuts before this scorched earth policy of staff cuts leads to a major disaster and loss of lives.”