Guards on Southern Rail are set to stage a five-day walkout next month in a long-running dispute over the future of their roles.

The RMT union has announced the workers will go on strike from Monday, August 8.

The train operator's services have already been hit by delays and cancellations for several weeks because of industrial action.

It runs trains on parts of Kent, including Tonbridge and Ashford.

It comes after the union balloted staff across Govia Thameslink Railways (GTR) over plans to reorganise staffing at 83 of its stations.

The changes could see the creation of a new position of 'station host' by the transport giant, which runs Kent services under the Southern Rail brand.

The union believes the changes could precipitate the closure or partial closure of ticket offices and the loss of up to 130 jobs.

Thameslink however, says there will be no compulsory redundancies and the scheme will bring more staff to where they are needed on the station concourse.