A London Assembly Member has spoken out to condemn ticket office closures at Tube stations, days before the first are due to shut down.

Ticket offices at both North Harrow and West Harrow London Underground stations will close in April, marking the start of a process to close ticket offices in nine stations in Harrow.

Closures across the capital will also see almost 900 staff lost from Tube stations.

London Assembly member for Brent and Harrow Navin Shah claims the Mayor of London’s plan to close all London Underground ticket offices will cost taxpayers almost £134m.

He described the cost as “staggering”, adding: “£134m of building works and ticket machines won’t make up for the loss of 897 station staff”.

He added: “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 Harrow have come to expect, particularly the elderly and disabled who often rely more on station staff for assistance.

“No matter how user friendly a ticket machine is they cannot provide the same level of advice and customer service that staff could.”