Skip to main content

Consultation on changes to ticket offices

The consultation on changes to ticket offices is now closed. The consultation invited submissions on proposals to move ticket office staff into other areas of the station where they can help more customers, as transactions from ticket offices drop below 15%.

The consultation was open from Wednesday 5 July to Friday 1 September 2023 and passengers were able to send comments to transport watchdogs, Transport Focus and London TravelWatch.

We are now working with both watchdogs to review the submissions and will update on the next steps once that work is compete. We would like to thank you for taking part.

The original consultation documents will continue to be available here for reference. Please note, details of the original proposals could change as we respond to the consultation.

The consultation is part of an industry-wide set of proposals that would mean ticket office staff would work on station platforms and concourses where they can be closer to customers. Subject to the consultation, ticket offices could be phased out over a number of years.

Ticket office staff would be freed up to work in other areas of the station where they are closer to customers and better placed to help, in line with models already in place at some Great Western Railway stations such as Newbury or Reading Green Park.

Our Passenger Assist programme – which helps disabled and mobility-impaired customers navigate stations and board trains – will not be affected by the changes. The proposals are designed to increase staff trained and available to help customers at stations across the network, including those with additional accessibility needs.

What are the proposals?

Subject to consultation, ticket office staff would transition to multi-skilled roles – similar to those already in place at GWR since 2007. This would allow staff to help more customers with a wider range of issues, including helping them to buy tickets, wherever they are on the station.

This will, however, mean changes to how our station teams are organised, and some ticket offices will close as the new roles are introduced.

The public consultation was on an individual station-by-station basis. This includes publication of Equality Impact Assessments for each proposal and is independently run by industry watchdogs Transport Focus and London TravelWatch.

Why does the current approach need to change?

Digital tickets have made it easier and faster for customers to buy and manage tickets online, which means fewer people than ever are using ticket offices.

The approach would help bring station retailing up-to-date from 1996, when the rules on how to sell tickets were set and before the invention of the smartphone. Back then, 82% of all tickets were sold at ticket offices nationally, compared to less than 15% on average today. Bringing staff out from offices would allow the railway to respond to the generational shift in customer behaviour, in common with many other industries and organisations that have long since done so such as Transport for London, most airlines and many banks and supermarkets.

More information about local ticket offices

To find out how this may affect ticket offices:

A full British Sign Language (BSL) version of the Station Change Proposal can be seen in the video below:

If you would like a printed copy of the consultation, or a printed copy in Braille, Easy Read or large print:

  • Phone: 0800 197 1329
  • Email: Passenger.Assist@GWR.com
  • Address: Accessibility Manager, GWR Milford House, Swindon, SN1 1HL

You can download information about how this may affect your local ticket office in PDF form below:

You can also download an audio version of how this may affect your local ticket office below:

For information on changes proposed at specific stations in British Sign Language, please use our InterpretersLive! Service, which will connect you to a member of our customer service team and a BSL interpreter:

Contact a BSL interpreter

Equality Impact Assessments

Equality Impact Assessments for stations where we are proposing changes can be downloaded below:

Frequently asked questions