Network Rail sets date for axing all train station toilet charges

Network Rail will scrap toilet charges at all of its stations from 1 April, the BBC has found.

It comes as Network Rail revealed the amount it received from charging people to use its station toilets fell by 33% in the past year.

Latest stats show nine Network Rail-run stations across the UK made a combined £3.1m in 2017-18 - down from £4.8m.

It was revealed last year Network Rail had made £41m since 2007 from people using its toilet facilities.

The announcement comes on the day toilet facilities at Liverpool Lime Street, Manchester Piccadilly and Leeds became free to use.

It follows similar moves at Birmingham New Street, London Bridge, Victoria and Charing Cross stations where the charges - as high as 50p - have been ditched.

The decision to stop asking people to pay at these stations appears to have had an impact on the annual revenue accrued by Network Rail.

The BBC understands the costs to maintain the toilet facilities at 20 Network Rail-managed stations will be incorporated in the firm's next financial budget.

A spokeswoman for Network Rail said the plans to make the toilets free to use was "part of drive to make our stations more friendly, accessible and open to the people who use them every day."

Last year, nine of these stations in England and Scotland charged rail passengers between 30p and 40p to use its toilet facilities.

These include King's Cross, Euston, Waterloo, Liverpool Street and Paddington - all in London - as well as Liverpool Lime Street, Manchester Piccadilly, Edinburgh Waverley and Glasgow Central.

The combined £3.1m received by these stations, except from Waterloo where the revenue is given to South Western Railway, is a fall compared to the £4.8m made in 2016-17.

It is a further drop from 2015-16, in which £5.4m was paid by passengers using toilets.

While Euston looks to be making the most money in pennies spent in its toilets, per passenger it is not as lucrative as Edinburgh Waverley.

Based on recent figures by the Office for Rail and Road, for every 100 passengers using Edinburgh Waverley people spent on average £1.43 over the past year.

It is a move which Network Rail CEO Mark Carne said he wanted to spread across the whole UK network, saying in March it was "quite wrong to penalise people when they are in discomfort".

Emily Yates, of the Association of British Commuters, said "train stations should proved public services and be treated as a hub of the local community - not as places to extract extra profit from passengers".

Network Rail also runs stations at Bristol Temple Meads, Guildford, Clapham Junction, London Cannon Street, Reading and London St Pancras where passengers are not charged.