From what I heard at the planning committee from the representative of Southerrn Rail it is my understanding that the gates will be closed at around 8pm-9pm each evening until TfL take over running of the station. This will stop any use of this exit in the evening until September 2009. If they were not going to be installed until September 2009 I do not think we would have been told that the barriers would be locked at 9pm.

The safety concerns are real given the short distance between the steps and the barriers, with no line of sight from the steps to the barriers. This will mean that any hold up at the bottom will not be obvious to people coming down the stairs which could result in problems, especially in the poor lighting levels on the stairs (once again this evening only one of the lights was working at 7pm).

Nasaroc, If you believe that two barriers can clear people fast enough I would recommend you take a look at the queues filmed at Sydenham back in July. Fortunately for the people of Sydenham they can queue on flat ground - like people in every other station in the country.

I am not against ticket barriers, I use them every day. But I am against a layout that could compromise the safety of rail users in Forest Hill. There are a number of methods to prevent problems at the barriers as I have suggested in my letter to Southern Railways:

If anybody knows of an overground or underground station with a layout of stairs and ticket barriers in such close proximity I would like to visit. Please let me know.