A NEW train was taken out of service following a crash at a Wirral railway station caused by a 'minor operational incident'.

The incident happened at Rock Ferry station on Thursday morning (October 5) and left damage to the front bumper.

Merseyrail confirmed there were no passengers on board at the time and no-one involved was injured.

Stephen Dodd, chief operating officer for Merseyrail, said: "There was a minor operational incident on Thursday (October 5) at Rock Ferry that required a train to be taken out of service.

"No passengers were on board the train when this incident occurred, no-one involved was injured and the resulting disruption to the Wirral line was minor."

The vehicle involved was one of the new state-of-the-art trains introduced on Wirral line services in August as part of a phased roll-out.

The trains are a £500m investment into the Merseyrail service as part of the Metro Mayor’s aims to create a London-style transport system across Merseyside with improved accessibility and Wi-Fi.

New trains have previously been seen on the West Kirby line when the town hosted the Open in July, and services on different lines were temporarily changed to allow for testing of the new trains and support driver training.