Greater Anglia launches public consultation to scrap ticket offices while Ipswich station among town’s to have Customer Information Centre

Public consultation into proposed changes to scrap Greater Anglia ticket offices has launched today.

The proposals, in most cases, would see existing ticket offices close across the 54 stations, while staff would take on a customer host role, providing rail users with advice about the best and cheapest fares, and supporting customers with other queries and accessibility needs.

Customers would purchase tickets at ticket machines or online, with staff there to support customers. This new retail model has already been implemented in Bury St Edmunds and Cambridge North stations.

At seven major stations – Ipswich, Chelmsford, Colchester, Cambridge, Norwich, Stansted Airport and London Liverpool Street – there will be Customer Information Centres which will sell a full range of products and provide help with more complex transactions.

Greater Anglia said it is proposing the changes due to significantly reduced usage of ticket offices over the past decade, with most tickets being purchased online or on ticket machines.

Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia managing director, said: “The station proposals put forward today are aimed at providing a more modern and flexible service for our customers. They reflect the more convenient ways in which passengers are looking to buy their tickets and check travel information.

“Station colleagues would undertake a new, more flexible role - bringing staff closer to customers. Passenger assistance arrangements would continue as they do now, from first to last trains, but with additional mobile teams to give greater flexibility in providing assistance across the network.”

Across 47 stations, some stations would have staff available for similar hours to to the current model, while some would have staff available for fewer hours, focused on the busiest periods.

Ticketing assistance would also be available directly from staff in Greater Anglia’s Customer Contact Centre, contactable via the ticket machine 24 hours a day.

Greater Anglia added that no station would become unstaffed as a consequence of the proposals and other station facilities, such as waiting rooms and toilets, would be unaffected.

It would also create new, additional mobile assistance teams, offering greater flexibility and support in providing assistance to passengers with reduced mobility and people requiring in-person assistance.

To contribute to the consultation, contact either Transport Focus or, where appropriate, London TravelWatch, about the proposals for your station.

Details of which statutory rail watchdog to contact for each individual station can also be found on the Greater Anglia website here.

Submissions must be made by the end of Wednesday July 26, 2023.