Toilet charges will be scrapped at some of Britain’s busiest railway stations from April 1.

Network Rail said it wants to make its stations “more friendly, accessible and open” as it announced the date.

The public sector company manages 20 stations, such as Birmingham New Street, Edinburgh Waverley, Bristol Temple Meads and 11 in London.

It has already made toilets free to use at many of its stations, which previously charged up to 50p per person.

Charges were scrapped at Leeds, Manchester Piccadilly and Liverpool Lime Street on Monday.

A Network Rail spokeswoman said: “As part of drive to make our stations more friendly, accessible and open to the people who use them every day, we are making the toilets free from April.

“This is part of a series of improvements we’ve been making, including the introduction of water fountains, more help points, massive investments into station facilities and improvements for disabled station users.”

Anthony Smith, chief executive of watchdog Transport Focus, said: “Scrapping toilet charges is a welcome step for passengers. It is a priority for improvement at stations according to our research and will signal the end of fumbling around in your pocket for change to spend a penny.”