STRIKE action has been threatened against Weymouth-Waterloo operator South West Trains over its plans to cut jobs at ticket offices.

The company is planning to reduce the opening hours of ticket offices at 114 stations across the network.

It is not known if any of these will be in Dorset.

If the proposals go ahead it will mean a reduction of 118 posts although it is stressed this will be achieved through natural wastage' rather than any compulsory redundancies.

The Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union said it will fight the proposals and has hinted at industrial action.

General secretary of the RMT Bob Crow said: "This is a direct attack on station staff jobs and the service offered to passengers."

SWT says fewer people are using ticket offices and instead are making use of platform vending machines and the Internet.

A spokesman said: "We have not reviewed opening hours for more than 10 years, and since then there has been a change in the way people purchase tickets.

"We are not proposing to close any ticket offices completely, just to adjust the hours of those where it is not commercially viable to keep them open during quiet periods."