PROPOSALS to shut the country’s railway booking offices have been condemned by local disabled groups.

Three Teignbridge stations – Newton Abbot, Teignmouth and Dawlish – are among the 1,000 offices which will close.

The closures, touted as part of a modernisation programme, will see hundreds of staff being made redundant.

One local man, who has limited mobility, said: ‘As a frequent rail user, I know any elderly are not computer literate and cannot book online in advance.

‘And what about people who are blind or with limited vision? They can’t operate the machines.

‘So many people rely on the human contact to find their train times and cheapest tickets.

‘From a personal viewpoint I depend on guards or station staff to help me on and off some trains. Will they no longer be on duty?’

The move has been driven by government plans to save costs, and workers were only told of the closure plan this morning.

The RMT (National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers) has now weighed into the argument, condemning what they call ‘fat cat’ train operators and the government for attempting to ‘decimate the railways’. On the back of their announcement, they are issuing statutory redundancy notices for hundreds of railway workers, something RMT states it will fiercely oppose.

RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch said: ‘The decision is a savage attack on railway workers, their families and the travelling public.

‘Travellers will be forced to rely on apps and remote mobile teams to be available to assist them rather than having trained staff on stations.

‘This is catastrophic for elderly, disabled and vulnerable passengers trying to access the rail network.

‘The arrangements for ticket office opening hours, set out in Schedule 17 of the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement, are the only statutory regulation of station staffing. It is crystal clear that the government and train companies want to tear up this agreement and pave the way for a massive de-staffing of the rail network.

‘Some of the train operators issuing our members with statutory redundancy notices today are cutting two thirds of their workforce. It is clear that the whole enterprise of closing ticket offices has got nothing to do with modernisation and is a thinly veiled plan to gut our railways of station staff.

‘Fat cat rail operators and the government do not care one jot about passenger safety, or a well-staffed and friendly railway open to all to use. They want to cut costs, make profits for shareholders, and run the network into the ground without a thought as to the vital role the rail industry plays in the country's economy.

‘RMT is mounting a strong industrial, and political campaign to resist ticket office closures and station staff cuts. And we will continue our fight on July 20, 22 and 29 when 20,000 railway workers on the train operators go on strike.’