Campaigners have warned that controversial plans to slash opening hours at train station ticket offices in East Renfrewshire will have a major impact on disabled passengers.

The cost-cutting move is set to affect stations in Barrhead, Neilston and elsewhere.

However, wheelchair users have stressed that they rely on staff at stations to help them get on and off trains.

Rose Kelly (pictured below), who lives in Uplawmoor, said that, unless there is someone on hand at Neilston station to bring a ramp, she is unable to travel.

Barrhead News:

In a desperate plea to ScotRail, she said: “Take a day in my chair and see how you get on without the assistance of a person at Neilston.

“If there is no ticket office, I definitely don’t have the option to travel.

“If I was going into Glasgow, I would need to get the bus from here into Neilston or Barrhead and then get another bus from there, which is not easy.

“It’s supposed to be an equal society but what they are doing is taking away choice. They’re taking away my right to travel and my right to freedom.”

Rose also said the plans would compound existing problems with access at Barrhead station.

“There is a door to get in at the station and it is so heavy that it is just not accessible,” she added.

Under the proposals, opening times at Neilston station’s ticket office would be slashed by more than nine hours on Mondays to Thursdays, with the doors closed at 12.30pm, as well as almost three hours on Fridays and more than eight hours on Saturdays.

Opening hours at Barrhead would be cut by more than three hours on Mondays to Saturdays, shutting at 7.50pm instead of 11.15pm.

For ticket offices at Giffnock, Clarkston, Whitecraigs and Williamwood stations, smaller cuts to opening hours are planned.

Savio D’Souza, vice-chair of Disability Action East Renfrewshire, said: “Time and time again, whether it is accessible taxis or train services, cuts are made without an understanding of their impact.

“If the stations are unstaffed, travelling time where assistance is needed is cut, which reduces local accessible travel and increases social isolation in vulnerable groups.

“Another issue is that station toilet access is operated by staff in the ticket office, so if staff aren’t there, toilets are inaccessible.”

ScotRail has said it is proposing the changes to deliver a better level of service for customers as it looks to “transform the railway” following the impact of the Covid pandemic.

The train operator stressed that passengers have increasingly preferred online options or ticket vending machines.

It added that no jobs will be lost as a result of the reduced opening hours.