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A Labour council candidate has been reprimanded by the party after making offensive comments on Facebook when his train was delayed because someone had committed suicide on the track.

Sion Griffiths, who lives in Aberdulais near Neath, is standing for Neath Port Talbot council in Thursday’s local election.

When the train he was travelling on was held up following a suicide, he wrote on his Facebook page: “Already running later than you like. What can make it worse?? Oh yeah ... Some cock killing themselves making me very late!!! Thank you ... You selfish c***!!!”

When a friend expressed concern about the comment, posting a message saying: “I’ve never heard you talk like that, Sion”, Mr Griffiths responded: “Sorry ... just not what I needed ...Lol. Got stopped at Bridgend. They jumped between Cardiff and Newport, so all trains delayed going into Cardiff and past Cardiff.”

A reader who does not wish to be identified wrote to us saying: “I was talking to a friend who said she read in your paper that Peter Hain was calling people standing for council vile, from other groups, not Labour.

“I took this picture off of Facebook a few months back. This bloke used to be in my school and is now going for council in Bryncoch. I think it’s awful what he has said as I have lost family from doing this.”

The ward where Mr Griffiths is standing, Bryncoch North, is currently held by Plaid Cymru. A spokesman for the party said: “These comments by Labour's candidate are extremely offensive and will no doubt be very distressing to anyone who has had to cope with the death of a friend or family member in this way.

“We hope that the Labour Party will act quickly to limit any further distress from this incident by suspending the candidate immediately and issuing a full apology.”

A Welsh Labour spokesman said: “We have spoken to Mr Griffiths about this issue, and he has made clear to us his deep regret over the comments and any offence they caused. We take the behaviour of all council candidates extremely seriously, and as such have warned him about his future conduct.”

Mr Griffiths, who according to his Facebook site works for a firm of solicitors, said: “I am deeply sorry for any hurt or upset caused by my crass and offensive comment. I fully recognise that my actions were completely inappropriate, and I sincerely regret them.”

The incident will be particularly embarrassing for Mr Hain, in whose constituency Bryncoch North is situated.

Earlier this month the Shadow Welsh Secretary launched a blistering attack on the Welsh Conservatives for fielding a number of candidates who had previously been exposed for making offensive and tasteless comments on Facebook and elsewhere. Commenting on a “Welsh Conservative Candidates of Shame” list produced by Welsh Labour, Mr Hain said: “It speaks volumes that despite some pretty vile behaviour these candidates have been allowed to stand for the Tories once again.

“These are not just a few candidates on the periphery of the party wings, but individuals close to the leadership of Cheryl Gillan and Andrew RT Davies. David Cameron has spent years trying to detoxify the toxic brand it cultivated in the 1980s but the truth is the nasty party is still alive and well.

“We will be making sure that voters on the doorstep know exactly what these candidates’ views are and let them make their own minds up as whether they want to be represented by them. If this is what Cheryl Gillan meant by challenging us in our heartlands then she really is scraping the barrel. She is treating the electorate with contempt by offering such low calibre politicians.”

Within days of Mr Hain's comments, it emerged that Cardiff Labour council candidate James Brinning – a 19-year-old student - had posted some extraordinary comments on his Facebook site in which he facetiously threatened to kill the teenage Canadian pop star Justin Bieber, angaged in racist, sexist and gratuitously offensive banter and advocated violence against David Cameron and Nick Clegg.