The consultation into the government’s plans to close most rail ticket offices has been extended after it was found that some companies did not provide the right materials for people to respond.

Rail companies including Southeastern, which is owned by the government, are planning to close most ticket windows as a response to the Conservatives’ funding cuts across England.

Southeastern plans to close nearly all its ticket offices in SE London in a first phase of cuts, before turning its attention to Kent and East Sussex at a later date. Ticket office sales at its London stations have slumped since the introduction of Oyster on National Rail in 2010, but windows have remained open to sell tickets to more distant destinations and to help with more complex purchases.

A handful of stations, including Greenwich, Eltham, Grove Park, Lewisham, Mottingham, New Eltham and Woolwich Arsenal, would have kept their windows, but at others, passengers would have to book online or use ticket machines. Southeastern pledged that staff would still be on hand to help with queries.

The consultation was due to end today, but London Travelwatch – the transport watchdog for the capital – announced this morning that it was being extended until September 1 because some rail companies had not made “complete and accessible formats” available for people to respond.

London Travelwatch and its sister body Transport Focus, which deals with issues in the rest of England, have received over 170,000 comments so far.

Michael Roberts, the chief executive of London Travelwatch, said: “It is important that a diverse range of views from all parts of the community are heard in this consultation. Unfortunately some train companies did not provide people with complete and accessible formats from the start of the consultation period. This has meant that some people may have been prevented from being able to respond to the proposals.

“New comments received will be read, considered and used in discussions with train companies in the coming weeks.”

Of the 40 Southeastern Metro ticket offices set to close, the company said that 19 sold fewer than 11 tickets a day. Ticket offices at Southeastern’s major stations, such as Charing Cross, would become “travel centres” under the plans.

Elsewhere in the capital, major stations such as Euston, Waterloo and East Croydon face losing their ticket offices. Only stations operated by Transport for London – such as Abbey Wood on the Elizabeth Line and London Overground-run stations such as New Cross Gate – are excluded from the proposals.

Most Tube ticket offices were closed by Boris Johnson in 2015, eight years after he had pledged to keep them open. 

Visit the London Travelwatch website to have your say on the Southeastern Metro closures.