Ticket office closures must be stopped
Jill Holt (Letters July 28) is right to be concerned with this government's plan to close every English ticket office.
The government is hiding behind the Rail Delivery Group to promote a sham consultation, with the lie that it will be good for passengers.
It is, in fact, discriminatory - especially against the disabled and elderly - and only the threat of legal action has seen the government grudgingly extend the objection date to September 1.
It is a sham because they and the RDG (for me the Rail Destruction Group) know that putting staff onto concourses to tell passengers what they already know (that tickets will only be available from a machine or online) is a precursor to making them all redundant very swiftly thereafter.
Given that the vast majority of these hard working and knowledgeable staff belong to the RMT tells you all you need to know about the total political nature of these plans.
Ticket machines simply do not provide the range of tickets,and thus passengers will pay considerably more as a result.
There is no point, Jill, in writing to your MP, James Gray.
He will simply regurgitate the same stock government response that I have seen Michelle Donelan send to a friend who opposes these crass proposals.
I suspect that only the scrupulously honest MP Dr. Andrew Murrison, a keen supporter of our local West Wiltshire railways will be against them.
No pun intended but the sooner they are stopped in their tracks the better.
The recent by election result in Frome should make all our local politicians take note that their future positions as MPs will not be in any way enhanced come the general election if they persist in their support for these unnecessary closures.
John Baxter,
Deverell Close,
Bradford-on-Avon
Concerns about rising interest rates
The Bank of England is raising interest rates in the hope of grinding down persistent inflation.
While high interest rates can work long term, they are very slow and often hurt the people least able to pay the higher rates.
Raising income tax and cancelling public works projects would affect the money supply much quicker and also spread the load to a wider number of people.
Raising interest particularly hurts young people who have just bought a home and can lead to people defaulting on their mortgage.
Steve Halden
Beaufort Green,
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