Brand-new Merseyrail train covered in graffiti before delivery

The train was awaiting transport from a depot in Kent when it was vandalised

A rail operator will have to spend "thousands of pounds" cleaning a brand-new train after it was vandalised before it was put into service.

The Merseyrail Class 777, part of a new fleet, was covered in graffiti while waiting to be transported to Merseyside in a depot in Tonbridge, Kent.

A spokesman for the operator said this "type of irresponsible behaviour will not be tolerated".

He said the graffiti had been reported to British Transport Police.

A picture and video of the train was shared by rail enthusiast Railmen of Kent on Twitter on Monday.

The spokesman said it had stopped in Kent while en route from the test track in Wildenrath, Germany to Merseyside and the graffiti was now "being removed at our Kirkdale depot at a cost of thousands of pounds".

He said the train would "then be ready for testing on the Merseyrail network".

"We also want to strongly remind graffiti artists that train depots are 'live sites' and can be extremely hazardous, so please don’t put your lives at risk by trespassing," he added.

The train is part of a new fleet of Merseyrail trains due to start carrying passengers across Merseyside and parts of Lancashire and Cheshire in the autumn.

The 52 new trains, made by Swiss company Stadler, are part of a £500m investment in the network.