New barriers for bus station toilets

By Ollie Heptinstall, local democracy reporter.

New barriers will be installed at Exeter bus station’s toilets after the original ones broke “pretty much straight away.”

The damage was raised during a meeting of Exeter’s highways and traffic orders committee on Friday [14 October], with Labour councillor Su Aves asking Stagecoach South West boss Mike Watson what was being done to improve the state of the toilets.

She criticised their condition, claiming there’s “a lot of damage and a lot of problems going on,” including alleged drug use. The police are also now involved in the matter, Cllr Aves said.

Exeter bus station opened last July, part of a flagship new development along with the St Sidwell’s Point leisure centre to replace the city’s old 1960s’ bus station site.

Mr Watson said Stagecoach, which manages the bus station and is in charge of repairs and maintenance, introduced charges for the lavatories when it opened, “because that tends to eradicate most anti-social behaviour issues in toilets.”

But he revealed the “flimsy barriers” that granted entry “broke pretty much straight away,” and added: “For some reason our ability to replace them has been somewhat disappointing, so that’s something we’re in the process of resolving now.

“It will mean us putting in more heavy-duty barriers I think. We do have a cleaning regime in place so we are addressing that, though, and I’m sorry it’s taking so long.”

Councillors were also told the bus station’s passenger information displays were now being more regularly updated by a member of staff, following criticism that they were displaying buses that were not running.