No Staffing This Weekend Or Next Weekend For The Ticket Office At Yeovil Pen Mill Station

Hello Everyone

I’ll try and keep this update as short as possible.

On top of the reduced hours staffing already being implemented for the Ticket Office at Yeovil Pen Mill station GWR have now also decided they don’t want to staff it this Saturday (tomorrow) or next Saturday. This means that the Ticket Office will have no staffing at all this weekend or next weekend. 

This is obviously completely unacceptable. With the reduced hours staffing that has already been implemented for the Ticket Office it has been understaffed by 17 hours 55 minutes a week since one of the two permanent members of staff retired on Friday 29th May. With GWR also refusing to staff it the next two Saturdays it means this week and next week the Ticket Office will be deprived of around 25 hours staffing each of these weeks.

 The one permanent member of staff the station has has been working extremely hard and this message is not aimed at him. After working 10 out of the past 12 Saturdays for the station he now wishes to have some Saturdays off and that is of course absolutely understandable and his right. GWR still have a train station to run and should have a contingency plan such as putting cover staff in place. It is the middle of summer. Yeovil Pen Mill is on the line to Weymouth and it is not appropriate for GWR to simply leave the Ticket Office unstaffed all day on a Saturday.

With regards to Passenger Assistance - there should be an agency staff member at the station for the scheduled staffing hours between 14:30 to 17:00 on  Sundays. Please be aware that person is unable to assist with ramps or tickets. I have been advised by GWR there will also be someone there to assist with Passenger Assistance tomorrow morning during the stations scheduled staffing hours 07:20 to 14:10. If you have booked assistance and are starting your journey from the station I have been informed that as the Ticket Office will be closed the meeting point will be the gates leading to platform 1. I am unsure of the situation as to whether anyone will be at the station next Saturday to assist with Passenger Assistance but as GWR have made a commitment on the station page on the National Rail website that the station will still be staffed it’s scheduled hours for Passenger Assistance even if the Ticket Office hours are reduced lets hope so.

To try and keep up with when the Ticket Office/station will be staffed please check the station’s page on the National Rail website https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/yeovil-pen-mill/

Please be aware when the Ticket Office is closed there is no access to the toilets at the station.

Thank you for reading and take care everyone.

Kath