DISABLED travellers have slammed the facilities at Burnley's new £2.3million bus station.

The station opened at the end of August, and for the first two weeks, disabled travellers were locked out of the disabled toilet and had to ask staff to be allowed in.

That, says disability rights campaigner Gordon Kirkham, is 'degrading and nonsensical'.

Mr Kirkham works as a consultant for Shopmobility in St James Street, Burnley. They advise disabled people on access issues and provide wheelchairs and accessories.

According to Mr Kirkham a special lock, available to all people registered as disabled who hold a key, should have been fitted to the toilet.

Mr Kirkham said: "As far as Burnley Council are concerned we do not exist. They are 100 years behind and we have to argue for absolutely everything that they give us.

"Developers have been putting special keys into disabled facilities for at least fifteen years. They have been around for a long, long time."

The situation meant that any disabled traveller arriving at the station after staff leave at 6pm was unable to use the facilities.

Now the toilet is left open all day and night until the station is locked up at 11.45pm. Because of this it has been targeted by vandals.

Management at the bus station, in Red Lion Street, would not comment on the matter yesterday, but did confirm that the disabled toilet had been vandalised twice since being open to the public.

A spokesman for the council said: "If it was an outside public convenience it would have a special key, certainly.

"If we left the main toilets open, instead of the disabled toilet, we would attract the kind of activity that would be a problem."

Mr Kirkham said: "When a special key is fitted it is foolproof. Everybody else in the country uses them, so why can't we have them?

"They have them in the market and in the town centre and those toilets do not get vandalised, so it doesn't make sense to have the toilets open to absolutely everybody.

Florence Tomlinson, 54, of Colne Road, Reedley, says she and her husband Keith, 55, often use public transport but now have no idea of what disabled facilities are available in Burnley.

She said she had visited other bus stations, such as Keighley, which offered excellent signs and disabled access.

The row over toilets is not the first criticism of the new station. Spelling errors on timetables were dismissed as "teething problems" by council bosses.

The council has promised to listen to any concerns put to them by disabled travellers.