Britain’s first unmanned trains have sparked a safety row as politicians and union officials voiced concerns about football crowds on match days.

The new Glasgow Subway trains were announced to much fanfare this week, designed to be driverless and completely unstaffed by 2021. As well as having no drivers, they will also have no door staff.

While some lauded this as the future of transport, others worried that passenger safety was not being prioritised.

Pat McIlvogue, a regional officer for the Unite union, said there were worries about overcrowding and rowdy passenger behaviour on match days.

He told The Telegraph: "Match days are a well-used situation and how they're going to manage the influx of traffic and people piling into doors when the doors are shut, what happens then?

“Who is going to operate the doors and manage any situations that happen? If there's circumstances when there are crowds at football matches and other events - how are they going to deal with that if a situation happens on the train and it needs to be halted?

“The move to driverless trains could be the first major signs in our transport sector showing the effects automation will have on the future of work, the impacts of which must be fully considered.”