A council has strongly objected to "poorly considered" plans to close train station ticket officers.

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead has submitted a formal objection letter against the planned closures of ticket offices at railway stations.

Should the planned closures take place, it is considered to disadvantage vulnerable passengers – including at eight stations across Windsor and Maidenhead.

The council says the rail industry’s proposals to replace staffed ticket offices with ticket machines are "premature", "not fully developed" and will "reduce the quality of service and ease of access to tickets" for residents, especially older and/or disabled people.

Councillors have noted the ageing population in the borough, with 18.4 per cent being aged 65 years old and over and 12.4 per cent in the borough declaring a disability.

Concern has also been raised about Windsor's presence in the tourism industry, with ticket office closures potentially infringing on the area's accessibility to those of different ages and abilities from around the world.

Amongst the council's other concerns is the inaccessibility of machines to wheelchair users due to the height of the screen and card reader.

The lack of audio availability and low screen contrast can also act as barriers for users with impaired vision and reduced literacy levels.

Other provisions may be limited by the loss of access to ticket offices.

These include limited provisions for those with learning difficulties/disabilities, and language barriers - resulting from many machines catering only for English speakers.

Wheelchair users are also offered a half-price ticket, but currently, this can only be bought from a ticket office. 

Additionally, foreign bank cards are often not accepted by machines – a particular issue for Windsor and Eton stations.

Councillor Simon Werner, the Council Leader, said: “As a council, we object strongly to these poorly considered proposals to replace a popular face-to-face service with machines. This will disadvantage the most vulnerable and the whole plan needs a re-think.

“If agreed, this will impose unnecessary barriers to widespread and easy rail access for those many elderly passengers and rail users with a disability or learning difficulty, as well as bringing additional language challenges for our many international visitors to Windsor and Eton.

“It’s clear that further development of ticket machine technology is needed to address these accessibility issues. These premature proposals show a lack of understanding of the impact of change and poorly planned mitigation. Simply re-deploying ticket office staff to assist customers will not resolve the technology issues arising from ticket machines.

“In addition, the proposals are based on current national average figures of total tickets sold through station ticket offices, rather than on actual ticket sales sold through station ticket offices locally, so poor consideration of the local picture.”