Former Brighton line signalman Ray Spry-Shute has lost his bid to be the new boss of the country's biggest rail union.

Bob Crow was declared the new general secretary of the Rail Maritime and Transport union after winning a three-way contest to succeed Jimmy Knapp, who died last year.

Mr Crow, a 40-year-old Londoner, polled 12,051 votes.

Second was Phil Bialyk with 4,512 votes followed by Mr Spry-Shute, the union's education and training officer, with 1,997 votes.

Mr Crow has pledged to put the union on a more professional bases, including improving internal communications.

Mr Spry-Shute, 50, of Seven Dials, Brighton, was a close friend of Mr Knapp and they were members of the same union branch in Croydon.

Mr Spry-Shute worked his way from being a teenage porter in Scotland to a signalman and then a station manager.

He commutes from Brighton to the union's headquarters near Euston Station.