When you live in a rural community like ours, being able to access public transport - whether by bus or train - is already difficult, due to the scarcity of local services. However, even if you are lucky enough to live near a railway station, your experience may soon change.

Last week we received the hugely disappointing news that South Western Railway and GWR are planning to close all their ticket offices at our local stations: Honiton, Axminster, Feniton and Tiverton Parkway look set to lose their ticket offices.

Ticket offices play a crucial role in helping people travel, particularly for older and more vulnerable customers who may prefer to use cash or struggle to use the self-service ticket machines.

There are some brilliant members of staff at our stations. Yet Feniton station is currently only staffed in the morning, and under these changes we will see the complete removal of staff on Fridays, as well as a cut to staffing at Honiton station on weekdays and Sundays.

These proposals are being put to an immediate consultation, backed by this Conservative government.

By the time you read this, the consultation will have less than two weeks left to run. In rushing this process, the so-called ‘Rail Delivery Group’ are leaving little time for people to express opinions and it feels a lot more like a foreclosure notice than a genuine listening exercise.

This latest move is yet another worrying step that we’re seeing mirrored in other parts of our society – such as with banks and big businesses – where physical services are being removed without proper consideration of how they will affect people in more isolated areas.

This growing digital exclusion is unacceptable and will have a big impact for decades to come. I believe that everyone should be able to access vital services in person, should they wish.

I will be making the case directly with South Western Railway and GWR about why these changes could make rail travel more difficult for many and I urge you to make your views known too.

You can take part in the consultation:

By post - RTEH-XAGE-BYKZ, Transport Focus, PO Box 5594, Southend on Sea, SS1 9PZ

By phone - 0300 123 2350 Online - www.transportfocus.org.uk/ticket-office-consultation