THE railway station serving the county town of North Yorkshire has been found by passengers to be locked up and deserted at 4.30 on a cold autumn afternoon.

It has been reported that a handwritten notice was posted on the booking office of Northallerton station on Thursday of last week, saying the office was closed because of a shortage of staff.

About 30 people waiting for trains or meeting friends using incoming services had to stand on the platforms because the waiting shelters were also said to be closed.

The station, which once had a full range of customer services including a refreshment room and substantial waiting rooms with coal fires, has been unmanned in the late evenings for a number of years and passengers are able to buy tickets on trains when the booking office is closed.

But Coun Jack Dobson, mayor of Northallerton, said he was disturbed to learn that station buildings appeared to have been closed so early in the day on the Thursday in question.

"It is the first I have heard of this because I have had no complaints. People have said the booking office has been closed before on occasions for 40 to 45 minutes, but there has always been a notice saying staff will be back at a certain time.

"If the buildings have been closed altogether at 4.30 I would like to hear what Railtrack has to say about it because it is not good enough.

"There have been rumours that there are going to be fewer trains stopping at Northallerton and people have been saying to me they have a feeling that Railtrack wants to close the station, but I sincerely hope this would not be the case.''

The station buildings, officially opened by Viscount Ingleby of Osmotherley 15 years ago after a complete rebuilding programme, are owned by Railtrack but staffing is the responsibility of the train company Northern Spirit, which said yeserday that it was investigating