COUNCILLORS are urging Abellio to reach an agreement with the transport union over the role of guards on Greater Anglia trains.

David Ling, secretary of the Colchester branch of the RMT union, told councillors at a full council meeting how driver-only trains could jeopardise public safety.

He said: "It will be a dilution of the guard's safety role, whose duties include safely dispatching trains, security checks, knowing how to evacuate and helping disabled passengers.

"This will mean companies will run as many trains as they like without a guard on them. It's a slippery slope to full driver-only."

There has been strike action over plans to introduce driver-only trains across the UK.

Abellio, when introducing new trains on their franchise in Scotland, were able to reach an agreement with RMT on this issue which resulted in retaining the guarantee of the conductor.

Councillor Tim Young (Lab) said Abellio should be able to come to the same agreement with Greater Anglia, however opposition councillor Dennis Willets (Con), said it had little to do with the powers of the council and should be a matter left to the Rail Safety Standards Board.

Theresa Higgins (Lib Dem) said she had personal experience of feeling unsafe on a train.

She said: "I travel quite a lot on the train and there are times when I have needed guards as I have felt unsafe.

"I want people to think about who travels on trains, a lot of people have to as they can't travel any other way, some are disabled.

"We have guards to help those people in need."

The motion was voted for by the majority and the council will now be sending details to Greater Anglia and the Government for their information and a response.

Greater Anglia has 222 conductors on 40 per cent of services, including Clacton to Colchester and Harwich to Colchester.

A Greater Anglia spokesman said: "We are not planning to remove conductors from our trains, in fact we will be recruiting more. We're guaranteeing their jobs until the end of our franchise in October 2025. They will still be safety trained.

"When we get our new trains, from 2019, they will be fitted with the latest technology to allow drivers to safely open and close doors on all of our trains. This will improve punctuality and allow our conductors to concentrate on customer service.

"Sixty per cent of our services do not have conductors, including the majority of commuter trains to London Liverpool Street from Essex.

"We remain open to talks with the RMT."