A consultation asking people what they think of closing ticket offices in stations across the country, including at Frome railway station, is due to end on Friday (1 September).

There are currently plans to close around a thousand ticket offices, with customers increasingly buying tickets on their phones.

GWR insist that the changes will simply bring  rail ticket 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."

The company say : "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. "

Unions and organisations representing those who have visual or physical impairments say it will hurt those who need help buying tickets most and is simply a way of cutting costs.

For more information: https://www.transportfocus.org.uk/ticketoffices

• Email: [email protected]
• Freepost: RTEH-XAGE-BYKZ, Transport Focus, PO Box 5594, Southend-on-Sea, SS1 9PZ