The biggest hike to rail fares in five years was met with furious opposition in Cumbria with protests being staged outside the county's busiest train station.

Passengers travelling on the first working day of the year were the first to experience the new, steeper fares which saw average ticket prices across Britain go up by 3.4 per cent.

This morning saw protesters, made up of members of the RMT union and the Socialist Party, gathering outside Carlisle train station greeting passengers as they travelled in and out of the city.

Protests were planned at around 40 stations across the country with RMT members handing out chocolates to passengers in a bid to "sweeten the bitter pill" of the price increase.

The average increases for train operating companies in Cumbria include a 4.6 per cent rise for TransPennine Express services, 3.3 per cent on Virgin Trains West Coast and 3.2 per cent for ScotRail.

In Cumbria the price of an anytime single between Carlisle and Penrith is rising 40p from £7.50 to £7.90 while an anytime return ticket is going up 10p - from £9.80 to £9.90.

The cost of a journey between Carlisle and Workington is to rise from £9.20 to £9.50 for passengers buying an anytime single ticket.

An anytime return - now £10.20 - will cost 30p more from January 2.

Joining the protesters was Ruth Alcroft, Labour's prospective parliamentary candidate for Carlisle.

She said: "I think it's really important to highlight the fact that for ordinary it's a big rise.

"Public sector pay has gone up by one per cent though our train costs are going up by 3.4 per cent.

"It's going to have a big impact on ordinary people.

"There's the promise of improving services but it's just not happening."

Many season tickets have gone up by more than £100, including in Theresa May's constituency of Maidenhead, where an annual pass to London rose by £104 to £3,092.

Other commuter routes that are now more expensive include Liverpool to Manchester (up £108 to £3,152), Neath to Cardiff (up £56 to £1,708) and Elgin to Inverness (up £100 to £2,904).

Stephen Joseph, chief executive of the Campaign for Better Transport (CBT), accused the Government of choosing to "snub rail passengers" by continuing to raise fares while fuel duty is frozen for a seventh consecutive year.

Mr Joseph said: "The extra money that season ticket holders will have to fork out this year is almost as much as drivers will save.

"That doesn't seem fair to us or the millions of people who commute by train, especially as wages continue to stagnate. What's good enough for motorists should be good enough for rail passengers."

The Government uses the previous July's Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure of inflation to determine increases in regulated fares - 3.6 per cent in 2017.

Train operating companies set the prices of other tickets but are bound by competition rules.