THE Government must relax its ban on admission charges at the National Railway Museum if it presses ahead with further funding cuts, a former head of the museum claims.

Andrew Scott, who was in charge of the museum from 1994 until his retirement in 2010, said it must be given the opportunity to raise extra revenue if it is to avoid the risk of closure.

“Free admission is nice and I would normally support it, but I am a pragmatist,” Mr Scott said, speaking to The Press in support of the newspaper’s Save The NRM campaign.

“The Science Museum Group (of which the NRM is a part) is not alone in facing funding cuts.

“Everyone can argue they are a special case but the Treasury cannot accept them all.

“People say it is part of our heritage and should therefore be free, but there are other parts of our heritage which aren’t free.

“For example, people can’t go to the RSC to see Shakespeare’s plays without paying for a ticket.”

He claimed the Government’s Culture department was “copping out” of responsibility for the future of museums such as the NRM by arguing it did not interfere in operational matters. “It does interfere by refusing to allow charging,” he said.

The campaign was launched after Ian Blatchford, director of the museum group, said earlier this week that one of the group’s three northern museums, which include the NRM, would almost certainly close if there was a further ten per cent cut in funding.

Mr Scott said he had seen the current crisis coming in his last days at the museum, and he and the group had sought to prepare for it by steps to cut costs and increase efficiency, for example by privatising security and sharing more of the museums’ back office work.

He said up to 90 per cent of museum costs – such as rates and maintenance of the buildings and collection – were fixed and could not easily be reduced and the remaining ten per cent of funding, which could most easily be cut, affected the things that made it most attractive to visitors, including organising big events such as the Mallard 75 celebrations. A museum spokeswoman said all three main political parties had made clear they did not support charging, and currently policy precluded it.

“It is unlikely that this will be revisited in the short term, but in the medium and longer term, the Science Museum Group may look for change in this area,” she said.

“Charging comes in many different forms and we will seriously consider the options available to us such as charging for specific aspects of our offer, for example events, exhibitions and certain galleries.

“We are consulting widely, for example we are talking with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, local government and commercial partner, about possible ongoing funding opportunities as well as considering alternative ways to make the necessary savings.”