Poster displayed at Darlington Station in July 2023 announcing the proposed Change to Darlington Ticket Office.

Poster displayed at Darlington Station in July 2023 announcing the proposed Change to Darlington Ticket Office. It outlines how London North Eastern Railway (LNER) was proposing changes to the way it sold tickets and provided customer service at its stations. It describes how the proposal was part of plans to modernise the railway and bring it more in line with modern customer expectations. It describes how all ticket office windows at Darlington Station would close with staff moving to other station areas ‘where they would be better placed to help customers buy tickets, provide expert travel advice, information and assistance for customers’. the poster invites customers to comment on the proposals by contacting Transport Focus the independent transport user watchdog by Weds July 2023.

In July 2023 the railway industry launched a 21-day passenger consultation which proposed the closure of the majority England’s station ticket offices. The Rail Delivery Group stated that ‘the proposals would help bring station retailing up to date from the mid-90’s, when the rules on how to sell tickets were set before the invention of the smartphone. Back then, 82% of all tickets were sold at ticket offices, compared with about 12% on average today’. Passenger Watchdogs Transport Focus and London Travelwatch objected to the proposals. There were concerns about the impact on accessibility, safety and security with objections raised by disability groups and Railway Unions. The consultation was extended to 1 September 2023 and eventually received 750, 000 responses from individuals and organisations, by November 2023 plans to close ticket offices were scrapped.