Commuters will face new barriers to their journey to work next week when new electronic ticket gates come into use at Oxford railway station.

Thames Trains is introducing the £330,000 gates from Wednesday in a bid to stop fare dodgers, vandals and beggars getting on to the platforms.

The new gates will regulate the flow of passengers on to platforms and Thames Trains says it should improve safety.

Station manager Erwin Becke said: "More than 10,000 people use Oxford station each weekday, so we appreciate that it will take a little while for everyone to get used to the new system."

The gates, already installed at some other large stations, will initially only operate for part of the day, but will be in use full-time by the end of March.

Eight extra staff have been hired to man the gates and assist customers with disabilities, families with child-buggies and the elderly.

Access to and from Platform Two (the Botley Road entrance) will remain open during weekday peak periods -- 6.30am-9.30am and 5pm-8pm -- with staff checking people's tickets.

A new automatic ticketing machine is also being installed at the station, allowing customers in a hurry to buy tickets for the 200 most popular destinations using a credit card.