A RECORD-BREAKING 76,000 passengers used Merseyrail services to travel to and from the Grand National festival, it has been revealed.

The rail company also revealed that it gave away 10,000 pairs of flip flops to racegoers and managed to raise a whopping £11,500 for Merseyrail's charity of the year Alder Hey Children's Charity and a cause chosen by Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram.

Fundraisers from Alder Hey also collected more than £7,000 from generous passengers at Aintree and Liverpool Central Stations across the three-day event.

Managing director at Merseyrail, Andy Heath told the Globe: “We were really pleased to support The Grand National Festival and help ensure that racegoers had a fantastic experience on our network with live music, flip flops and our additional services.

“Our staff did a fantastic job of supporting passengers throughout the event and I’d like to thank all of our partners who were involved.

“Around 76,000 passengers passed through Aintree station and I’m absolutely delighted that £5,750 will go towards continuing the fantastic work that Alder Hey Children’s Charity do.”

During the event, Merseyrail doubled the capacity and frequency of its trains to Aintree.