I am writing to express my concern over plans to close the rail ticket office in Lowestoft as the Labour Party’s Parliamentary Candidate for Waveney. We have gathered 463 signatories from users of the Lowestoft railway station both outside the station and online via our petition and they have consented to us sharing their voice against these changes. The opposition to these changes are shared by the current Conservative MP and the Green Leader of East Suffolk District Council: https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/23667312.mounting-opposition-lowestoft-station-ticket-office-plans/

The plans locally will reduce access to the ticket office entirely, and take the Monday to Saturday service from 10.25 hours of ticket office service to only 5 hours of non-ticket office coverage, with only “roving” coverage on Sundays from the current 8.15 hours of coverage. It has not yet been explained what “roving coverage” means in relation to Lowestoft station.

From conversations we have had outside the station this news is deeply worrying to older and disabled residents in Waveney, local staff, and all those who rely on the support and advice provided by staff in ticket offices. I believe that the issue of the digital divide has not been fully explored in these proposals and these plans represent a further widening of this gap for those who struggle with online or machine based ticket sales.

As you are aware, one in nine tickets are still sold at physical ticket offices[2]. That represents over 150 million of the 1.4 billion rail journeys recorded over the past year[3]. Peter Aldous MP has suggested that the number of ticket sales at Lowestoft stands at a higher proportion than the average. This is to be expected as Lowestoft is a town which has a higher proportion of older, disabled and lower income residents than the average.

Given the fact that many of those passengers relying on ticket offices will be older and disabled rail users that may otherwise struggle to use digital alternatives, it is vital that you offer assurances that those rail users will still have access to the support they need to use our rail network with confidence.

Research by the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), for instance, has found that only 3% of people with sight loss said they could use a ticket vending machine without problems and 58% said it was impossible[4].

We also know that women can feel vulnerable travelling at night on trains – over half of women aged 16-34 years old felt less safe using public transport after dark according to the ONS in 2022.[5]

Lowestoft greatly relies on the train service for tourism and our visitors tend to be spread across the week rather than solely on commuter journeys. Investing in the rail network in Waveney is especially important for industry particularly with the development of Sizewell C and the continued growth of our offshore wind sector. The plans for regeneration in the town are reliant on the train station being a key route for business representatives as well as tourists being able to feel welcomed in our area.

Please rethink these plans – Lowestoft’s future depends on our train station being a welcome and accessible place for all our residents and those we welcome to our area – for leisure, business and work.

Yours sincerely,

Jess Asato

Labour Candidate for Waveney