Guards on trains have a vital role in ensuring that passengers have a safe and comfortable experience on their rail journeys.

Guards can assist disabled passengers who would be otherwise unable to travel, and are an important means of diffusing tension in instances of drunken, violent or anti-social behaviour from other passengers.

To remove guards would not remove the work that needed to be done - instead this would be transferred to the driver and increase their already considerable workloads.

I fully support the campaign by the RMT union to keep guards on rail services. The shift to Driver-Only Operations (DDOs) that have been proposed by the rail companies pose a real threat to passenger safety, as well as to the jobs of guards who would be made redundant by the move.