A third of railway stations are unstaffed

A local Liberal Democrat has expressed concern about the number of railway stations that are unstaffed.

Michael Mullaney, Liberal Democrat parliamentary spokesman for Bosworth, was responding to a new survey that showed that one in three railway stations are now unstaffed.

Michael Mullaney said "With train companies announcing staffing cuts across the network as the economic crisis worsens, the number of unstaffed stations could get even worse.

"Not only are many stations unstaffed, but those which are staffed are often only staffed for part of the day. Like Hinckley which is only staffed until 1pm Monday to Saturday and unstaffed on Sundays.

"The survey also showed that East Midlands Trains had amongst the highest number of unstaffed stations in the country (39%)."

The survey of almost 500 stations across England and Wales found that:

One third are never staffed (143 stations)

13% of staffed stations are no longer staffed by 6pm even on weekdays (47 stations)

Fewer than half of stations have an open ticket office on Sundays (217 stations)

Liberal Democrat Shadow Transport Secretary Norman Baker said:

"Standing alone at one of these ghost stations can be an intimidating experience for some passengers and may tempt some away from the railways and back into their cars.

"Obviously there will be places where providing staff reduces the viability of the station as a whole, but this trend towards closing ticket offices and reducing staffing is extremely worrying."