Charges to use toilets at three of northern England’s busiest railway stations will be scrapped next week.

The facilities at Leeds, Manchester Piccadilly and Liverpool Lime Street will be free to use from December 17.

Passengers are currently charged 40p to use the toilets at Leeds station, while Manchester Piccadilly and Liverpool Lime Street have 30p fees.

Public sector company Network Rail, which owns the stations, said the measure will be the first improvement for passengers resulting from a £15 million benefits package announced last week by Rail Minister Andrew Jones.

Mr Jones said the disruption suffered by passengers in the North has been “unacceptable”.

Many Northern and TransPennine Express routes were crippled when new timetables were introduced in May.

Network Rail said in a statement: “We welcome the Rail Minister’s funding package for passengers in the North.

“We will respond to this immediately and one of the first changes will be the removal of toilet charges at Manchester Piccadilly, Leeds and Liverpool Lime Street.

“This is a long-overdue Christmas present for train passengers in the North.”