Up to 100 staff are set to strike over proposed ticket office changes.

Virgin Trains booking office staff are set to walk out in a series of strikes during Friday’s (20 November) evening rush hour in a dispute over plans to cut back on ticket office window openings.

Over 100 staff are involved in the strike action, which could result in disruption for passengers travelling on the UK’s West Coast rail line. Staff are also protesting at the proposed implementation of ticket machines which they say cost the customer more.

Virgin Trains announced on its website that booking offices may be disrupted from 16:00 to 20:00 on Friday 20 November.

Stations that will be affected are: London Euston, Manchester Piccadilly, Glasgow Central, Birmingham New Street, Coventry and Preston.

A statement on the website said: “If you are planning to travel during this period we strongly advise you to book and collect your ticket well in advance.” However, the train operator said that train services are operating as normal. 

The Virgin employees are members of the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association – TSSA.

Gerry Doherty, TSSA Union Leader, said: “Our quarrel is with Virgin management who are cutting back on the number of windows open to the public and forcing them to use more expensive ticket machines.”

TSSA claims that the introduction of ticket machines could mean the loss of 10% of booking office staff, which it says will impede customer service and cause longer queues for customers.

“They [Virgin] are the latest company to try and cut booking office staff and replace them with machines which the public do not want and find much more expensive to use,” Mr Doherty concluded.

The union said strikes will be repeated at different stations until Virgin management agrees to negotiations with its representatives on the proposed changes.