Several station ticket officers are to close around Wandsworth, prompting a London Assembly member to speak out.

East Putney and Southfields will be the first to go and Fiona Twycross warned the move "would leave passengers in Wandsworth paying more money for less staff support".

The closures at East Putney and Southfields are the first two of six - Balham, Clapham South, Tooting Bec and Tooting Broadway the others - to face ticket office closures in a move that will also see almost 900 staff cut from London’s Tube stations and £134m spent on building works and ticket machines.

Dr Twycross said: "I am very concerned about the ramifications of these ticket office closures. This argument isn’t about whether staff are based in ticket offices or not.

"It is about whether there are enough staff in stations to provide the good service people in Wandsworth have come to expect, particularly the elderly and disabled who often rely more on station staff for assistance.

"The truth is a staggering £134m of building works and ticket machines won’t make up for the loss of 897 station staff.

"No matter how user-friendly a ticket machine is they cannot provide the same level of advice and customer service that staff could. Coming after Tube fares were hiked for the seventh year running many passengers will wonder why they are being asked to pay more money for less staff support on their journey."