EAST Lothian Council has written to ScotRail in the wake of plans to cut the opening hours of the county’s only railway station ticket office.

The national organisation outlined plans to alter the opening hours of ticket offices across the country at the beginning of November.

Currently, the ticket office at Dunbar Railway Station is open for 102 hours and 25 minutes each week.

Concerns about changes to the opening hours at the ticket office at Dunbar Railway Station have been raised (Image: Newsquest)

Under the potential changes – brought about “to deliver more visible customer support at stations, reflecting changing travel and ticket purchasing patterns” – Dunbar’s ticket office would only be open for 82 hours and 55 minutes, a drop of 19 hours and 30 minutes.

The proposed change was highlighted at a recent meeting of Dunbar Community Council.

Councillor Norman Hampshire, leader of East Lothian Council and a Dunbar and East Linton ward member, encouraged the community council to write to ScotRail and confirmed that the local authority had already been in contact with the rail firm.

READ MORE: Dunbar Railway Station ticket office opening hours cut

The letter reads: “This station is an intercity station and has people coming from across East Lothian and Berwickshire to catch trains that will take them across Scotland and destinations around the UK.

“Many of these passengers are elderly and don’t have the ability to access tickets online or use the ticket machines, and need assistance to plan their journeys.

“If the ticket office is closed, will the station be unmanned outside the ticket office opening hours?

“If that is the case, there is a health and safety issue with the significant number of passengers who need assistance at the station.

“There are also times early in the morning and late in the evening when there are very few people on the platform and that could be very intimidating for any vulnerable person on their own.

“I would ask you to reconsider the proposed reduction in opening hours at Dunbar station due to it being an intercity station with a range of different trains going to different locations and many vulnerable passengers can easily get confused.”

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Currently, the ticket office is open from 5.55am to 9.30pm from Monday to Friday.

On a Saturday, the ticket office is open from 6.25am to 8.40pm, and from 11.15am to 9.30pm on a Sunday.

The proposed changes would mean the ticket office being open from 6.10am to 7.15pm Monday to Thursday, with an earlier closing time of 6.30pm on a Friday.

On a Saturday, the facility would be open from 7am to 6pm and, on a Sunday, it would continue to open at 11.15am but close three hours earlier – 6.30pm.

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Pippa Swan, chairwoman of the community council, confirmed that the group also had written to ScotRail about the situation.

She said: “You look at the number of hours, it is significant but the core hours show the ticket office will be open for large parts of every day.

“What ScotRail say is the change in the ticketing hours reflects actual usage of the ticket office.

“The people that are going to be worst affected are the people who cannot rely on technology, cannot buy tickets online or feel uncomfortable about using ticket machines.”

Before the changes are made, the train operator has pledged to provide significant notice to customers.

Phil Campbell, ScotRail customer operations director, said: “The independent passenger watchdog Transport Focus carried out an extensive consultation on these proposals, which received feedback from thousands of people across Scotland.

“We have listened to our customers and updated our proposals based on that feedback.

“These changes will provide a service that is better suited for today and the ticket-buying habits of our customers, as well as create an environment that improves safety and customer support."