Rail commuters are bemused by a new system requiring them to get a ticket just to get into the ticket office at Brighton Station.

Passengers said the system was “half-baked” and would add to the work of staff who were “close to tears” on the scheme’s first day.

One commuter compared the system to playing bingo.

Southern Railway said it introduced the scheme after queuing problems at their new ticket office, which opened following a revamp earlier this year.

The new scheme was introduced on Thursday and had its first peak morning on Friday.

Commuters have a choice of four different options to press a ticket for and then wait for their number to be called out.

Southern said the new system was working “very well”.

Brighton is the first Southern station to use the system and it is modelled on a successful scheme at Birmingham New Street station which has cut waiting times in half.

A similar system is used in the Brighton and Hove Bus Company One Stop shop in North Street.

Ticket office user Jeff Scott said: “You have to be sympathetic for the ticket office staff who already have to bear the brunt of complaints and now have to explain this new ticketing triage system.

“The current ticket office is poorly located and has a space problem.

“Trialling a ticket priority system seems sensible but seems like sticking a plaster on a wooden leg when it won’t help the trains run more punctually.”

Commuter Daniel Searle said the system was “unnecessary tinkering” and a waste of cash.

He said: “First we had an imposing screen forcing adverts on us, now a half-baked ticket system.”

A Southern spokesman said the system removed the need for people to wait in line, allowing customers who have trouble standing to sit down and not lose their place.

He said that with many now using smartcards or automated ticket machines, enquiries at the ticket office were more complex.

He added: “Once we opened the new office it became apparent that traditional queuing wasn’t going to work with the space we had.”