Letter: Is anybody there at Burgess Hill station?

Certainly there seems to be no correlation between the posted ticket office opening times and the presence of staff. Although the ticket office is supposed to open at 6.10am during the working week, 6.30am on Saturday and 9am on a Sunday, my own experiences tell me that there would be more chance of a lottery win than of finding a human face behind the ticket counter at these times.

Even the security guards seem to have vacated their posts, with gates left open, so that the unscrupulous can travel free whilst the rest of us pay ever higher rail fares.

This is not just an inconvenience for those of us wanting something like a replacement ticket or needing help when the ticket machine has broken down, as the one on Station Road was over the weekend; it is dangerous.

This very evening, at 7.30 a young child cycled at breakneck speed, through the open platform gate, right onto Platform 2. Under the nose of the security guard? Well no, of course there wasn’t one there.

This “understaffing” of Burgess Hill station, from my observations, has been going on for months.

It about time that the rail operating company, Southern, either come clean about de-staffing Burgess Hill station or get a grip on the timekeeping of the staff who are supposed to be there. Either way this is an insult to season ticket holders, like myself, who pay thousands of pounds a year to Southern and to all those using the station who deserve a better attitude towards customer service

and public safety.

RICHARD CHERRY

Burgess Hill