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London Underground cuts 750 jobs as ticket offices shut

Transport for London (TFL) has confirmed 750 jobs will be cut as a result of the closure of every ticket office on the network by 2015.

TFL said the remaining ticket office staff would move from behind ticket windows and into ticket halls, gate lines and platforms. It said the ticket office closures will help save more than £40 million.

TFL confirmed the closures are part of a billion pound investment to help deal with the extra increase in passenger numbers, which it expects to rise from 8.4 million in 2013 to 10 million in 2030.

RMT union general secretary Bob Crow called the cuts "savage" and said they will hit the "most vulnerable users of tube services the hardest".

The transport authority is facing cuts of about £78m in 2013/2014.

Despite the job losses, London Underground, managing director, Mike Brown, insisted people - customers and staff - were still at the heart of the organisation.

"My commitment to London is that all tube stations will continue to be staffed and controlled in future, with more staff visible and available to help customers buy the right ticket, plan their journey and keep them safe and secure," said Brown.

"We will continue to make the Tube more accessible and provide assistance at stations for all our customers who need it."

Brown said the job cuts were necessary because of the "surge" in ticket sales being made away from ticket offices. He said office sales make up for only 3% of all tube journeys.

Crow said: "The mayor must believe he is some sort of magician if he thinks he can slash a thousand jobs and still run safe services when everyone knows that staffing has already been cut to the bone while passenger demand continues to rise.

"Throwing in the plan for night time operation at the weekends is just a smokescreen to try and camouflage the real issue which is a savage cuts to jobs, access and safety.

"Any move to run through the night would require huge additional capacity and staffing and wholesale changes to fleet and infrastructure maintenance that would require the agreement of the tube unions, and the issue has only been flagged up today as a diversion from the massive cuts agenda."

As part of its investment, TFL announced a new 24-hour 'Night Tube' service at weekends, which will come into force in 2015.

Weekend services will run through the night on core parts of the system - initially comprised of the Piccadilly, Victoria, Central and Jubilee lines and key sections of the Northern line, TFL announced.