Railway chief warns ticket machines cannot sell 1 in 4 tickets amid station office culling

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Mick Whelan has raised concerns that safety will be taken for granted, as he suggested that railway workers and passengers would be at greater risk in train stations empty and unstaffed

Mick Whelan wondered if it was even logistically possible to close almost all ticket offices (

Image: Vuk Valcic/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock)

A railway chief has warned that a quarter of train tickets cannot be delivered by machine amid plans to close 974 train agencies across England. Mick Whelan said the office closure was a "poor and inherently dangerous policy" and would deprive people of the ability to travel across the UK.

Speaking exclusively to the Mirror, train drivers' union leader Aslef pressured the government to reverse the 'horrible' decision as he said the technology was not there to support her.

Mr. Whelan also expressed concern that safety will be taken for granted, as he suggested railway workers and passengers would be at greater risk in empty and unstaffed stations. “Our biggest problem during the pandemic was that the turnstiles were open, it became the place where children and other people could go, travel by train for nothing, sit in the station because there is no there was nowhere to go. Nothing was open because of the closures,” he said.

Mick Whelan said the decision “essentially denies people with visible disabilities and invisible disabilities the ability to travel to the UK” (

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"We still have hangovers in many rural areas where at certain times of the day or night I have members who don't want to drive certain routes because they don't feel safe. security." Mr Whelan said stations could be forced to close if they became too unsafe. “If you cannot guarantee the safety of staff and passengers, these stations should not be open. The problem is, I don't want people not traveling, so what do you do? People need to feel confident,” he said.

"Railroads are a foreign environment to most people. Most people who commute have a set journey, so when they go somewhere else they always ask for a quest...