A UNION fears some rail staff working in travel centres at stations on the East Coast Mainline, including York, could lose their jobs.

The Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) says Virgin Trains East Coast is planning to replace the centres with open-plan "customer zones".

Stations including York, Leeds, Doncaster, Wakefield, Newcastle, London King's Cross, Edinburgh and Peterborough could be affected, the TSSA said.

It claims it would affect 15 per cent of staff, and would lead to the loss of 31 travel centre jobs and 15 station staff, and warned of possible industrial action.

The new customer zones would allow staff to advise and help passengers buy tickets through machines. The union says a memo had been sent to staff outlining the plans and that redundancies would be on a voluntary basis.

General secretary of the union, Manuel Cortes, said: "This looks like another cost-cutting exercise at the expense of passengers and staff, all dressed up as improving customer service.

"It looks to us it will mean longer queues and more expensive tickets because we have not yet got the technology to sell the whole range of tickets through hand held machines.

"Our members are clearly unhappy about what is happening and we will have to consult them about what to do next. A ballot on industrial action cannot be ruled out."

A Virgin Trains spokesperson said: "We have big plans for the east coast franchise with £140million of investment aimed squarely at making the customer experience the best it can be.

"Proposed changes at our travel centre are part of those plans which put the customer at the heart of all our operations. Where any changes affect our travel centre colleagues, we will be consulting fully with them and the TSSA in due course.”