Rail bosses face group over fears

Rail bosses have faced members of a Church Stretton rail group over concerns about the lack of ticketing services in the town.

Sixty people attended the annual general meeting of the Church Stretton and District Rail Users Group at the Parish Rooms in the town.

Rail users in the town claim as there is no ticket office they cannot take advantage of cheaper fares by pre-booking or using discounted passes.

The meeting was attended by two officials from Arriva Trains Wales (ATW), commercial director Mike Bagshaw and Ben Davies, the company’s stakeholder liaison manager.

Arriva representatives said they could not see a problem with the situation as customers could get tickets on the train, by telephone or on the internet.

But Councillor John Lloyd said: “When we had a ticket facility in the town these problems were sorted for the local travelling public.

“We need a ticketing facility in the town as not everyone, and particularly older people of which there are a lot in Church Stretton, do not have access to the internet.”