Protesters rallied against the government's plans to shut down railway ticket booths in Kent.

Medway Trades Union Council and the RMT Union held a march in Gillingham against the closures.

Crowds gathered at Gillingham War Memorial at 12.15pm today and made their way with flags and banners along the High Street to the train station at 12.30pm.

The protests are against the Department for Transport's plans to close 978 booking offices throughout the country in October – including Medway's five main stations.

This means customers will have to use ticket machines to purchase their fares instead or buy online.

The march was part of a national day of action by "We Own It" – a campaign against privatisation and for 21st century public ownership.

There were multiple speakers at the protest, including RMT president Alex Gordon and leader of the Medway Labour Group, Cllr Vince Maple.

They highlighted the issues of computerised ticket machines, the important service booking clerks provide and the thousands of jobs that will be lost.

Ivor Riddell, organiser of the march and RMT Medway branch secretary, said: "It will be a huge impact for the general travelling public who want to get the best value fares for the appropriate journey. You can't get that from a machine, it would just give you what you asked for and nothing more.

"It will also affect the disabled, the vulnerable and the people who speak a different language – they don't understand the system, even I struggle to as a conductor.

"You need someone there with the experience and training who can actually assess what you need and give you the best value for the journey travelled."

Speaking about the march, he added: "I'm absolutely over the moon – we had a good crowd here today from a cross-section of the community.

"We had disabled people, local councillors, other trade unions supporting us, it's just been amazing."

RMT president Alex Gordon said: "I think closing ticket offices is going to mean people pay more for tickets, because they will be relying on ticket vending machines, or on online sales, or various apps.

"This is really a disgraceful stunt by monopolists to get rid of staff, lower their wage bill, and be able to take more money out of passengers' pockets.

"They are winning and we are all losing – and they are laughing at us.

"We should be all standing together and saying we are not going to take it anymore."

The demonstration was part of a much bigger drive to prevent further de-staffing and to "keep both passengers and workers safe when using national rail".

Cllr Vince Maple, leader of the Medway Labour Group, said: "Lots of people are gathered here today recognising that every ticket office in Medway and across the county is under threat of closure.

"I know speaking first-hand to both passengers and also to the hard-working women and men that are in the ticket offices – they are seeing hundreds of people a day across all of the five Medway ticket offices.

"So for the government to say that they are no longer required is just simply rubbish."

In the last month, tens of thousands of workers have gone on strike in the long-running dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.

Arriva bus drivers across Kent have also recently voted to take strike action, leaving the possibility that passengers will be stranded without services.

Protests against ticket booth closures also took place in Bromley South, Denmark Hill, Epsom, Horley and Oxford today.