Call me old fashioned but I quite like the idea of turning up at a train station, going up to the ticket office window, speaking to a real human being and buying my ticket.

Yes, I may be stuck in the past, hankering for the days when good customer service was an aspiration that successful companies aimed for, but the plan to close almost all train ticket offices seems to be a retrograde step.

My most recent employment involved a rail commute into central Manchester and I’ve written before about what a wholly unpleasant experience the rigmarole was with a stark choice between old, worn out trains or short-formed new trains with passengers crammed in so tightly it felt dangerous.

But once or twice I was able to travel in smug satisfaction as I handed over my paper ticket to be checked by the guard while watching a fellow passenger with a dying battery desperately trying to get his phone to work to prove he had bought his ticket online.

So if the ticket office closures go ahead, travellers will be forced to use train operators’ apps or websites to buy tickets, or to use the self-service machines at stations.

I wonder if the people suggesting this mad plan have ever tried to use those self-service machines because to be honest, they are not much fun.

I find myself increasingly agreeing with union boss Mick Lynch, RMT general secretary who said: “This is catastrophic for elderly, disabled and vulnerable passengers trying to access the rail network.

“It is crystal clear that the government and train companies want to pave the way for a massive de-staffing of the rail network

“Fat cat rail operators and the government do not care one jot about passenger safety, or a well-staffed and friendly railway open to all to use. They want to cut costs, make profits for shareholders, and run the network into the ground without a thought as to the vital role the rail industry plays in the country’s economy.”

That’s perhaps a worded a little more strongly than I would have put it but I think Mr Lynch is making some valid points.

Maybe it’s time to put passengers before profits and re-nationalise the entire rail network.

On another topic, regular readers will be aware that I’m not a fan of police and crime commissioners. I thought the introduction of elected, paid commissioners was a mistake at the time and I still believe that now.

So why do we have them? You have to go back to the 2010 general election campaign when the manifestos of both the Conservatives and Lib Dems outlined their own (different) plans to replace or reform the police authorities that existed at the time.

Following the election that saw the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition government come into being, the two parties agreed to 'introduce measures to make the police more accountable through oversight by a directly elected individual, who will be subject to strict checks and balances by locally elected representatives' and police and crime commissioners came into existence.

I have a number of issues with PCCs. In the first instance, it introduced a not inconsiderable cost that hadn’t previously existed. Some reports suggest running the office of PCC in Cheshire costs £1 million a year. Of greater concern to me was the politicisation of a function that I believe shouldn’t be political at local level.

And I am not convinced the police are any more accountable now than we had under the old system of police authorities.

So why, you may ask, am I mentioning Cheshire PCC now. Well the answer is Dan Price, a former Warrington councillor who has been chosen by Labour as its candidate for the Cheshire Police and Crime Commissioner job when the next election is held.

And it’s certainly an interesting choice by Labour.

Mr Price has a somewhat chequered history with Labour in its pre-Starmer iteration. In fact he resigned from the party in a row over Brexit in April 2019 and then stood for Change UK (against Labour candidates) in the European Elections.

But it seems he’s back in the fold so it looks like Labour has slaughtered the fatted calf to herald the return of a prodigal son.

I wish Mr Price all the best in his attempt to follow in the footsteps of a previous Warrington Labour Police and Crime Commissioner, David Keane.

And we all know how well that went.