Rail ticket staff on strike

Hundreds of ticket office staff are on strike today on one of the UK's busiest rail lines.

Some 204 Virgin booking office staff are taking part in the 24-hour strike affecting a number of stations on the West Coast Main Line linking England with Scotland.

The line is expected to be particularly busy today as people return to work following the long Christmas holiday.

The strike has been called by the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) union in protest at planned cutbacks to booking office window openings.

A dozen mainline stations along the route, used by 25 million passengers per year between Euston and Glasgow, will be hit by the walkout.

Euston, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Crewe, Preston and Glasgow are among the stations expected to be the hardest-hit in the strike.