Kentish Express Ashford & District
Southeastern ‘are worst for toilets out of order’
Councillors were flush with ideas on how to improve Southeastern’s on board facilities this week.
A representative from the train company attended Monday’s meeting of ABC’s Transportation, Highways and Engineering Advisory Committee after Cllr Bernard Heyes (Con) raised concerns over the high number of times the loos are found out of order.
The Godinton ward member said it was unacceptable that so many toilets were regularly out of service.
“I’ve found that Southeastern are definitely the worst for this issue,” he said.
“On other services, such as Virgin or Southern, the toilets are occasionally out of order but not as much as on Southeastern.
“It is pretty bad as passengers pay a 25% premium on the High Speed but the loos are frequently out of service.”
He also questioned whether a train was fit to run if it only had one working toilet.
Benjamin Ward, Southeast- ern’s public affairs executive, apologised for the problems councillors had experienced and said that although tanks are emptied every three days this can only be done at specific stations, including Faversham and Ramsgate, and not at Ashford or St Pancras.
Members of the committee in turn offered Mr Ward suggestions to take back to Southeastern’s engineers.
Cllr Heyes, who is Ashford’s portfolio holder for transportation, highways and engineering, said: “I would suggest more facilities.
“There should be a place at St Pancras where you can replenish the toilets.”
Cllr Phil Sims (Con) suggested putting a sign in the toilets warning customers of the consequences of blocking the loos to make them think twice about what they flush.
Cllr David Robey (Con) put forward three ideas to improve the conveniences; installing a mechanism that would enable the toilets to be emptied more often, communicating the consequences with passengers and making the toilets more robust.
Cllr Michael Burgess (Con) asked whether it would be easier to have a mobile tank, much like a Portaloo.
Mr Ward said he would pass the comments on to train bosses and would provide an update at the next committee meeting, scheduled for January.
What do you think? Write to Kentish Express, 34-36 North Street, Ashford, TN24 8JR or email kentishexpress@thekmgroup.co.uk