Cheadle and Gatley Lib Dems are moving
Graham, Tom and Ian
Your Lib Dem team for Cheadle West & Gatley Learn more
What were the local issues four decades ago?
Cheadle and Gatley Lib Dems are moving
Cheadle and Gatley Lib Dems are moving
What were the local issues four decades ago?
Cheadle and Gatley Lib Dems are moving
Virgin Trains promise Stockport Station fix after Lib Dem pressure
by Lib Dem team on 21 July, 2015
We reported last week that the Lib Dems are putting pressure on Virgin Trains to find a way for residents to continue to use the underpass at Stockport station to get between the Edgeley and Stockport sides, despite ticket gates being erected.
We can report that the Lib Dems have had confirmation this afternoon that Virgin Trains will be allowing people to use the underpass at the station to get from one side to the other.
They are going to introduce a free pass ticket (as we suggested) so anyone turning up at the station and wanting to walk through to the other side of the underpass will be able to do so, just by asking a staff member for a ticket.
Virgin are also happy to work with the council on introducing a longer term pass that residents could hold for 12 months, allowing them to pass through whenever they want.
Virgin Trains issued a statement a few days ago:
We understand there’s some concern around the introduction of Gate Lines at Stockport station. That’s only natural. It is however one of our franchise commitments and is being driven by the desire to improve the customer experience of those using the trains and of course address the significant problem of ticketless travel.
As part of the scheme we have recruited seven new Welcome Hosts. It will be their job to meet and greet customers, acting as ambassadors for Stockport and where necessary use their discretion to grant access either to the platform or subway for those not intending to travel.
Rest assured we are listening. We met only this week with senior officials from the council to discuss how we can work together on this. We’ve taken away some challenges and hope to have some positive news to share in the coming weeks. The key longer term aim however is communication, ensuring everyone in the locality is aware not only of the change but the alternative routes available to them.
Could the gates have been erected differently?
Could Virgin have put up gates across the stairs and the lifts instead of at each end of the underpass? Possibly, and it would be their decision as they run the station. There would be issues with doing it – you’d need four sets of gates instead of two and it would be more complicated to change trains if you had to go through barriers inside the station – but it may have been workable. However, that decision has been made by Virgin Trains already and anyone who’s been to the station in the last couple of weeks would have seen that the structures to put the gates on are already in place.
We are very glad that a solution has been found. We have worked constructively with Virgin Trains to look at the problem, understand what they have an obligation to do and find solutions to meet the needs of local residents.
14 Comments
[…] Read more on this […]
I am a Stopfordian who does not live in Edgeley but I very regularly use this important Public Right of Way [OK they’ll be some Railway Act that will be used as Virgin Trains as a Get-Out clause].
Will I, as a Stockport resident, be given a FREE ‘Residents Pass’?
Anyone who wants to pass through will be able to, for free.
This isn’t a solution! The “Welcome Hosts” (who thought THAT one up?!), at their discretion, might allow non-travellers to use the underpass. Doubtless we have all heard the stories of the accidentally ticketless (no, not me) being fined vast sums by similarly-empowered train staff…
Hi Nick, that’s why the proposal is for people to have tickets to allow them to pass through, rather than just being ticketless.
Err… hardly. Is not the proposal for a “Welcome Host”, if present and so inclined, to vet the intentions of the person wanting to use the underpass and, if so minded, to bestow a ticket on said person so they can get through the barrier?
The subsidiary point I was trying to make – but, I think, failed – is that train staff have a history of NOT using their discretion and instead sticking rigidly to the most draconian version of the rules (again, not in my direct experience, but from reading about others.)
Why don’t they put the barriers at the bottom of the steps to the platforms? Or at the top of hte steps? That’d have the desired affect while not interfering.
I agree with the other comments. I don’t see this as an adequate solution, as access is not guaranteed but comes down to the discretion of the station staff. Presumably Virgin Trains will hope the fuss will soon calm down and then they can enforce a full blockade. I struggle to see how the council can accept a proposal that is not legally governed but based entirely on good will – this is not a solution
These barriers need to be fought as they will divide this part of Stockport in two. The underpass may well now be private land but until railway privatisation it would have been public. If Virgin Trains wishes to restrict access to the land that is now owned by them, then they should provide an alternative means of access, a new footbridge or underpass. Instead of this, we are gaining a cheap alternative of simply blocking a path.
Iain – this is a PR disaster. The solutions above are not good enough for station users or local residents. The focus should be about removing the barriers – how can we change the franchise? It is rude, demeaning and discourteous for a station users to ask a stranger for a “pass” – are we in communist Eastern Europe? Rgds, JB
Hi JB – as the demand for gates has come from central government rather than Virgin Trains, I can’t imagine that changing the franchise would make any difference: the DfT would still be making the same demands of any new franchisee.
I appreciate that we are not going to get a perfect solution, and my focus has been (and will continue to be) on getting the best solution we can for local residents.
Like I said last week. There is a footbridge just south of the station. There is an asset sat there not being used, as usual though the council decided to put pressure on Virgin trains to provide access across its station. While this can be seen as a temporary solution I think the council should explore linking this under used footbridge to the grand central complex. Negating any need for passes to be printed. Which although free to local residents won’t be free to people from Cheadle meeting friends on the edgerley side and crossing to Grand Central . Also this must be costing the council money as I can’t see Virgin printing them for free.
Hi Garry – we’re looking at how we might be able to bring the footbridge into wider use. Obviously not a short-term fix but you’re right.
Tickets to go through the underpass will be free to anyone who wants to go through and won’t be paid for by the council.
Thanks Iain. That’s good to know. Yes it is a long term solution but probably better. That way people maintain access to the town centre while the railway can cut down on fair evasion.. Which ultimately costs the public through greater subsidies to the railway companies. One other option could be to find a way under the viaduct and link it to the steps that go between the bus station and railway station by the old royal mail building. I’m sure there is some way of getting around this issue.
At a time when essential staff responsible for safety-related functions are being viciously cut from public bodies, it is scandalous that we are that SEVEN totally non-productive ambassadors are to be employed at Stockport station. As far as I can see, they will not contribute a single penny to the country’s exports or to reducing the National Debt. The sole justification for this would be if their job description included the portering functions that disappeared a generation back with the Thatcher cuts, e.g. helping the elderly and disabled to move in either direction with their luggage between taxis or other road transport and their seat on the train. However these ambassadors would then be at the risk of industrial injuries that are not compatible with what I perceive to be their public relations role. No doubt these ambassadors will have an expensive fancy uniform that will clearly indicate their privileged status so that no member of the travelling public will be in any doubt that ambassadors are not to be approached with trivial requests that might help intending travellers to experience more pleasant and trouble-free journeys.
The station underpass is not a public right of way, I think Virgin are going above and beyond with their provisions to help out.
Why is unreasonable to need to ask a steward to be allowed to pass through someone else’s property?