Rail union the RMT has branded a public consultation launched this morning into the closure of ticket offices at stations across South London “total chaos.”

The consultation is part of proposed plans to close or downsize as many as 81 ticket offices on the Govia network which includes Thameslink, Great Northern, Southern, and Gatwick Express services.

Posters have been erected across the network stating the proposal will “make staff more accessible” by closing ticket offices relocating staff onto the station concourse who will be called Station Hosts.

Station staff will still “be able to sell the usual range of tickets” using a “handheld device” much like those used on trains.

In a written statement issued this morning, RMT general secretary, Mick Cash, labelled the plans a “disgrace” and called for the train line operator Govia to be “slung out.”

He said: “It is clear from what we have seen already today that the posters are aimed at deceiving the public.”

The entire consultation process, he said, “has now descended into complete and utter chaos and is a shameful way to treat passengers who pay a fortune to use the services on this basket-case franchise.”

Among the stations affected are Tooting, Wandsworth Common, Battersea Park, and Balham.

Proposed closures could affect many more stations on Thameslink, Southern, Great Northern, and Gatwick Express routes.

Southern responded by saying that there is absolutely “no substance at all” to the RMT anger. They explained that they had given the consultation “plenty of publicity” and said that the posters were simply announcing the “beginning of the consultation” to the public.

A written statement from Southern’s press office added the “chaos” described by the RMT was not reflected in their feedback from this morning’s commute, claiming that the RMT’s criticism is entirely “unsubstantiated.”

 

Some of the stations in south London that could be affected include:

Tooting, Battersea Park, Carshalton Beeches, Selhurst, South Croydon, Wandsworth Common, Balham, Carshalton, Caterham, Coulsdon South, Purley, Norbury, Sanderstead, Sutton, Thornton Heath, Wallington.