Three of the busiest railway stations in the North of England have had their toilet charges scrapped by Network Rail.

The charges will be dropped from 17 December 2018 at Liverpool Lime Street, Manchester Piccadilly and Leeds. It previously charged 30p per visit in Liverpool and Manchester, and 40p to relieve yourself at Leeds. Many stations in the London area charge customers 50p to use the facilities.

According to figures released by Network Rail, £4.8m was raised by toilet charges in 2016/17, down from £5.4m in 2015-16.

The scrapping of fees is part of a £15m benefits package announced by rail minister Andrew Jones for beleaguered Northern and TransPennine Express customers.

The minister said disruption to train customers had been ‘unacceptable’ since new timetables have caused chaos since summer.

In a statement, National Rail described the funding package as a “Christmas present for train passengers in the north”, despite many customers now having to contend with weekly strikes throughout December.

The charges were originally set to be scrapped on 1 April 2019 but this was brought forward.