Fury at plan to close station exit

6.36.10pm BST (GMT +0100) Sun 7th Jun 2009

Hundreds of passengers a day use the platform 4 exit

Southeastern Trains' plan to close the exit from platform 4 at Lewisham Station has been met with fury by local residents. The rail operator intends to divert passengers down a new staircase or lift and under the railway to the entrance of Lewisham DLR Station. It is a detour which will add at least four minutes to journey times, claims Blackheath councillor Chris Maines.

"We are told this will help passengers with mobility problems but in fact it will cause them greater difficulties and deter them from using the station," said Cllr Maines.

Southeastern Trains firstly consulted with Lewisham Council but failed to inform the travelling public about the proposals. The public have now been alerted by the Liberal Democrat councillors and following their complaints a formal consultation process has been started and passengers now have until 22nd June to make their views known.

The train operators are concerned that they cannot monitor whether passengers have tickets with the current arrangements and believe they need all passengers to exit the station at one point to allow proper use of the Oyster Card.

"We have been told SE Trains are concerned about fare dodgers and this change will alleviate this problem, but there are other solutions which will not inconvenience the majority of passengers," says Chris Maines. "We believe SE Trains are also planning to make cuts in staffing at Lewisham Station so it looks like funnelling passengers through one exit is being done to reduce staffing - that turns this into a money saving exercise regardless of the inconvenience it will cause passengers.

"I believe SE Trains have considerably underestimated the number of people that use the existing exit. I believe it to be about 1500 per day. The train company wants all passengers to exit the station into a narrow road where the buses and taxi are turning. I do not think they appreciate the impact of this on Station Road: there are real road safety issues here."

Over a hundred passengers have now registered their fury at the closure on the exit, which meets the needs of passengers living north of the station and using the supermarket next to the station.