FIRST TransPennine Express is extending opening hours of ticket offices across its network.

From Sunday (February 13), 19 stations will have new weekday opening hours with ticket offices being staffed from earlier in the day to later in the evening.

There are new, longer Sunday opening hours and ticket offices at Grange-over-Sands and Brough while Ulverston will be open for the first time on Sundays.

Twenty extra staff have been recruited and trained to provide the longer opening hours - 700 extra business hours a week - to offer an improved service to passengers. Waiting rooms at stations, which are usually locked when stations are unmanned, will also be open for longer each day.

Vernon Barker, managing director of First TransPennine Express, says: "The new, longer opening hours will make it easier for our passengers to buy tickets or seek information with the added benefit of waiting rooms being open for longer each day."

First TransPennine Express is also developing plans to enhance safety and security at stations by providing CCTV monitoring and passenger help points.