The National Railway Museum, in York, is "very likely" to scrap its admission charges from December 1, the museum's chief said today.

Andrew Scott said the trustees who control the museum were likely to accept a new deal offered by the Government which will allow the attraction to scrap charges, but survive the loss of income of doing so.

The news follows months of debate between the trustees of the Museum of Science and Industry, which controls the NRM, and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

Mr Scott said: "It is our trustees' intention to agree to the new proposals put forward by the department, subject to examination of the finer detail. We think we can look forward with confidence to free admission for everybody from December 1."

The Government, which wants to see all national museums offering free admission, introduced new legislation in the 2001 Budget which means tax problems will not apply to museums.

Updated: 11:42 Thursday, May 03, 2001