Here are some things we mentioned in Episode 4 (Published 1st November 2023):

Mark Smith (The Man in Seat 61) and his impressive CV

Mark began with a career in British Rail in rural Kent on what was then BR’s Southern Region. He was the Station Manager for London’s Charing Cross, London Bridge and Cannon Street stations in the early- to mid-1990s. After a spell as the Customer Relations Manager for two large UK train companies, he worked for the Office of the Rail Regulator and later the Strategic Rail Authority, ending up at the Department for Transport in charge of the team regulating fares and ticketing on the British rail network. Since 2007 he has run his Seat 61 website full-time, which he says is because it became a full-time job keeping it up-to-date (and it’s more fun than real work).

Mark has travelled the world on trains and ships and been on the other side of the counter too – in university holidays, he worked for Transalpino in London – a European rail ticketing agency, issuing tickets and advising travel agents on train travel across Europe. Now he shares that knowledge online for the benefit of everyone.

Transport Focus’ response to ticket office closure proposals… and it’s objection

You can read Transport Focus and Chief Executive Anthony Smith’s conclusions on the ticket office closure proposals here on the Transport Focus website, where you can also find a breakdown of the findings for each of the individual train operators.

Here’s a link straight to the summary of TF’s findings.