Ballot by rail ticket window staff

Station staff in the West Midlands are being balloted on strike action over plans to close ticket windows following chaotic scenes on the rail network at the weekend.

Virgin Trains wants to close some ticket windows at stations it owns, including Wolverhampton, Stafford and Birmingham New Street. Unions say the move will cause chaos as well as job losses, with queues having reached a record 100 yards in Coventry. They believe this proved the need for more staff to operate ticket windows rather than relying on FastTicket machines.

The Transport Salaried Staffs Association said passengers had to wait up to 30 minutes at Coventry on Saturday to buy tickets, with "harassed" staff telling some travellers to pay at the end of their journey.

The union is balloting more than 120 Virgin Trains workers at 14 stations between London Euston and Glasgow on strike action in a row over closures, with the result due on December 23 .

Any industrial action will not be held until the New Year.

The union said the Coventry queue snaked 100 yards across the concourse to the entrance door, and would have stretched out on to the pavement if many passengers had not bought tickets from machines.

TSSA general secretary Gerry Doherty said today: "It is simply outrageous that passengers are now forced to wait 30 minutes to even buy a ticket and face an even worse service in the New Year.

"They already pay the highest fares in Europe and yet they are treated like cattle. A standard return from London to Manchester costs £247 – it is cheaper to fly Virgin to New York than it is to get a return ticket on one of their trains to Manchester."

Virgin Trains has not offered an explanation for the queue, but said a message was sent to on-train staff advising of the situation.

The company plans to put up its fares for tickets bought on the day of travel by six per cent from January, with the cost of a return ticket from Wolverhampton to London Euston due to rise to £147.