It strikes (perhaps a poor choice of word
) me that the extremes on both sides of this issue are extremely unhelpful and, to be honest, likely to be a detriment to everyone.
Is it correct that ticket offices play a significantly reduced role in issuing tickets? Yes, unarguably so. Anyone who pretends otherwise is being daft all the numbers tell us that fewer tickets are being sold by ticket offices to fewer passengers.
Is it correct that still, in some situations, ticket offices play an important role in retail matters? Yes, unarguably so. Anyone who pretends otherwise is being daft and everyone can think of situations where a member of staff with detailed training on retailing tickets will be the best way for a passenger to access the railway. Whether that's granny Smith going from Bognor Regis to visit the grandchildren in Bolton needing a ticket clerk to help sort out her reservations and tickets, a member of railway staff wanting to buy a Priv rate ticket, a tourist fresh of the plane with no knowledge of the UK railway network or an enthusiast after a rover or ranger.
Arguing the toss about those two different positions wastes everyone's time and energy on matters which are, frankly, irrelevant.
For more useful is probably to try and take a slightly more objective view of where it makes sense to deploy staff behind traditional counters dedicated to retailing tickets (airport stations, major London/other large city stations, tourist hotspots all seem logical places), where it make sense to have staff in a more hybrid role where they're roving slightly more around the station (so they might be helping with passenger assistance, helping passengers with general queries, helping passengers who need a ticket but are struggling, etc) and where, fundamentally, it might make more sense to just de-staff the station completely.
Thinking local to me I can see an argument for de-staffing Redcar Central. The waiting room is only open when the ticket office is (which is typically only between 0700 and 1330) there is only a disabled toilet (which has radar key access so is actually accessible at all times not just when the waiting room is open) and station facilities wise that's about it. Considering the station is unstaffed after 1330 I'm not sure it's really going to make a massive difference if it was unstaffed all the time. The ticket office certainly gets used but it's been a while since I've seen a massive queue like you would have seen in years gone by. Meanwhile somewhere like Middlesbrough where the station is staffed all day, it's a substantial building and the ticket office is open most of the day (from 0600 ish until 1900 ish) but again doesn't see that much trade and perhaps here an approach of having a good bank of TVMs (there's only one at the moment) with staff more mobile around the station (but there to dip and help out with retail issues as needed) would make sense.
The present situation of just ticket offices open which sell only a few tickets an hour doesn't seem sustainable but getting into a bunfight about it all doesn't seem especially productive compared to thinking about how the resources involved could actually be best deployed. In some places that will be to keep a traditional ticket office, in some places that will likely be outright closure and de-staffing, and in others probably a change in the role of the staff at that station.
RMT/TSSA would, if they hadn't have been riled up by DfT/HMT intransigence more generally, be best served I suspect in working on that basis to get the best deal for their members. But it seems, from this thread at least, we're about to have exactly the same extreme fight where one side insist that no changes can be countenanced at all and the other side insists that everything must change and do so immediately.