Adam McCartney (Protests are barriers to progress, Soapbox, January 8) is in favour of barriers at York Station. I’m not, they’d be an ugly nuisance.

His reasons are: loitering hooded up-to-no-good scum (haven’t noticed any of these at the station); ditherers saying goodbye (better on the big platforms than just this side of the barriers when it’s busy); and roustabouts sneaking on to trains without paying (roustabouts work on oil rigs or in circuses, so will presumably travel by helicopter or circus wagon).

Will travellers from York in a hurry no longer be able to pay on the train as at present? Are they going to pay for the barriers by sacking ticket inspectors on trains?

The station is fine as it is. I can’t see what possible benefit this unnecessary and presumably expensive change might offer.

Charles Hunt, Wilton Rise, York.


* Just prior to Christmas I had the opportunity to witness the operation of the electronic ticket barriers at Leeds station.

Two issues caught my attention. The new barriers have been installed in what was the passenger circulating area near the bottom of the escalators. This area also has the electronic arrival and departure boards.

The result was something akin to chaos, with passengers entering the circulating area and those attempting to leave the station mingling with passengers trying to find their departure time information.

The second, and by far the more informative issue, was the number of new barriers out of service. It certainly appeared that less than 50 per cent were in use, contributing to the chaos.

Two days ago a member of our family went to Leeds by train. Not only were there a very high number of ticket barriers still not working, a new scenario came to the fore.

When returning to the station a ticket was offered to the barrier, accepted and let our family member onto the platform. However, the ticket in question was a used Leeds-Selby ticket issued in December. Fortunately this was a genuine mistake, a valid ticket being in her possession.

The installation of electronic barriers at York is being pushed by the Train Operating Companies (TOCs) as a means of revenue protection. This does not appear to be the case when a used ticket is accepted.

Like many more readers, I believe that the installation of these is both unnecessary and would greatly spoil the look of York station.

Perhaps the TOCs would care to comment on the Leeds installation and, more to the point, on lost revenue as appears to be the case at Leeds. Hopefully they would not say it’s down to teething problems, given the length of time the Leeds scheme has been running.

David Rhodes, The Shrubberies, Cliffe, Near Selby.