'Ticket office closure will create new barriers for blind and partially-sighted train passengers'

Leonie Seymour-Milsom (left), with guide dog Lisa, and Leigh Pick, with guide dog Geoffrey, are two partially-sighted passengers who regularly travel from Melton train station

That is the fear voiced by two women who regularly use the Burton Street station and rely on assistance from staff to buy their rail fares, inform them on service changes and to cross the line safely to the platform on the other side of the track.

We reported last week that the Melton ticket office was one of around 1,000 up and down the country which is set to close as part of a modernisation of the train network.

East Midlands Railway, which operates the station, said most passengers there now buy tickets online or via the dispensing machine with only five per cent getting them from ticket office staff.

Leonie Seymour-Milsom (right), with guide dog Lisa, and Leigh Pick, with guide dog Geoffrey, are two partially-sighted passengers who will soon have to try to use the ticket vending machines at Melton train station

Staff would still be there once a week to give assistance but Leigh Pick and Leonie Seymour-Milsom say having staff available every day makes their lives so much more easier because of their sight issues.

Leigh, who travels across the country for her work with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), told the Melton Times: “I visit 30 different stations a year in the course of work and, from a personal perspective, closing ticket offices will have a massive impact on me.

"I’m partially sighted so I can give it a go with the ticket machine, when it’s working, but it is not easy.

“It won’t be much fun if there is a queue of people waiting behind me to use the machine, especially if they are in a rush.

"I have a feeling some people will just not travel now if they have trouble buying a ticket.

“I feel particularly sorry for those people starting off on their sight-less journey. I’m not sure how I would have coped with not having a ticket office to help me.”

Leigh relies on her guide dog Geoffrey, who has been assisting her for four years, to keep her safe when she travels on trains.

She is unhappy that the needs of elderly people, those with physical disabilities and passengers who can’t afford an internet-connected device are being ignored by the new proposals. There is a public consultation but Leigh believes it is pointless.

"I just don’t think it’s been thought through enough,” she added.

“And to give us just three weeks for a public consultation I think is appalling.”

Leonie has built a close relationship with her guide dog, Lisa, who has been with her eight years.

She said: “I have to cross the line to get to the other platform for the Leicester train.

"I can get assistance from the person in the ticket office to get across safely.

“The steps for the footbridge over the line aren’t safe for blind people, they are too steep.

"It looks like we won’t have any help soon.”

A spokeswoman for the RNIB told the Melton Times: “Our research shows that only three per cent of people with sight loss said they could use a ticket vending machine without problems, 58 per cent said it was impossible.

“The government claims it wants to ‘bring staff out from behind the glass’ but in truth it risks leaving blind and partially sighted people behind a new barrier.”