THOUSANDS of rail passengers, workers and campaigners took a stand today against plans by Tory ministers to force industry bosses to close virtually every ticket office across England. 

A nationwide day of action organised by the RMT union saw protests outside train stations in Hull, Liverpool, Dover, Nottingham, Leeds, Bristol, London and elsewhere amid growing outrage over the damaging move.

Unions have warned that the draconian approach would lock vulnerable passengers out of the network and lead to a near total de-staffing of the railways, putting all travellers at risk and costing thousands of jobs.