STRIKING train drivers and guards shut down Merseyrail yesterday in their fight to keep the service safe for passengers.

Transport union RMT leader Mick Cash said the strike to keep safety-critical guards on the train was “rock solid.”

Merseyrail — one of three operators seeking to boost their profits by axing the vital second member of onboard staff — managed to run a scab service for golf fans going to the last day of the Open in Southport but no services ran on the rest of the network.

Just days before the 24-hour strike a guard sprang into action to extinguish a fire started by a passenger on a Merseyrail train.

Mr Cash said: “Any hacking away at the role of the guard in the interests of private profit would have catastrophic consequences and Merseyrail and their supporters need to face up to that fact as a matter of urgency.”