'I’ve used Nottingham railway station for 14 years - closure of the footbridge is the worst thing they’ve ever done'

I hate to admit it, but I am terrifyingly familiar with Nottingham railway station and the services East Midlands Railways run from Norwich and Skegness to the city. I’ve worked for Nottinghamshire Live since 2012 and prior to Covid, I travelled back and forth from my home in Grantham to our offices in the city centre every single day.

I don’t come in every day now, but I am an extremely regular traveller on that service - which costs me the fine sum of £12.70 a time.

I recognise the staff that work on my line checking tickets, I recognise the cleaners at the station, I know which loo is best to go in and exactly how long it will take me to get down to platform 1c or 2, which is where one of my two possible trains home depart from (spoiler: it’s a few solid minutes at a swift pace from station entrance to the train).

All of this means I think I am quite well-placed to offer my opinion on EMR’s latest decision to close the footbridge which connects Station Street to Queens Road, shutting off access to all the platforms either side in the process.

At this point I’ll include EMR’s official reasons for doing so, as it’s only fair. They say the current closure is a three-week trial to tackle a ‘minority of determined people’ who use the bridge to get in and out of the station without buying a ticket.

What’s wrong with that, you may ask? The problem is that EMR are using a massive hammer to crack a nut. The amount of people this will annoy, inconvenience and confuse has either not been considered or is being ignored.

Tickets are checked every single time without fail on my journey and I assume it is the same on every other train. Leaving that aside, why can’t EMR install barriers at the bottom of the staircase leading onto the footbridge? This would protect the right of way between Queens Road and Station Street while also ensuring passengers have to be in possession of a ticket to get in and out.

It’s now also a complete pain and ridiculous trek to change between train and tram, which I experienced on Friday as I was spending the day with journalism students at Nottingham Trent University. I had to walk up to the front concourse of the station, round the side and up a set of stairs to get to the tram. Previously I could have halved this journey going up the steps to the footbridge and then up again to the tram platform.

I questioned EMR staff near the main ticket barriers about the decision, asking why they couldn't put barriers on the footbridge and was told “the council” is to blame. I was then given figures about the amount of people who evade fares - in a slightly defensive manner (I assume staff have been getting a lot of grief about this).

It’s not just rail travellers who will be affected by this though. I truly feel for the businesses right by the Station Street exit who rely on passing trade. Hopkinson’s for example, a cafe and bar which is home to a number of independent traders in its striking three-storey building. Owner Pete Russell told us the potential impact was “terrifying”.

And black cab drivers say it could be the “final nail in the coffin” for them as their rank is right opposite the Station Street exit. Two of our city MPs, Nadia Whittome and Lilian Greenwood, have also said they're liaising with EMR over the impact of the closure.

I feel for the people who are going to miss trains, experience confusion or lose business over this closure. Moreover, I feel sorry for people like myself who have to travel on dirty, overcrowded trains every year when the prices keep going up and up and up and our lives are made more and more difficult.