Jobs at risk with East Coast line cuts

“THE sooner all railways are taken back into public ownership the better,” said union leader Manual Cortes as it announced that 100 ticket office jobs, and 13 in Yorkshire, could face be at risk.

Travel centres from Edinburgh to London could feel the pinch said the TSSA rail union.

Virgin wants to move ticket office staff out onto “customer service zones” on platforms. There staff would sell tickets from handheld machines.

This comes as it was announced that 100 jobs being axed at Southern rail, part of the GTR franchise.

Manuel Cortes, union leader, said; “This is another example of passengers finding a service is being cut in the name of private profit.

“Two multi millionaires, Sir Richard Branson and Sir Brian Souter, are laughing all the way to the bank while passengers find themselves at the back of the queue again.”

“Passengers will be faced with a narrower range of the cheaper tickets because handheld machines do not offer a full service,” said the union leader.

“This will a recipe for travel confusion when platforms are at their busiest during peak travel times.

“We should go back to the publicly run East Coast Mainline franchise which was a non profit making line where passenger service was paramount. The sooner all railways are taken back into public ownership the better.”

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