House at POO corner: Trains routinely dump toilet waste on great-grandmother's garden covering her clean washing



Susan Leigh, 64, has banned her great-grandchildren - aged two and five - from her garden in Shotton, north Wales

Waste from passengers is simply dumped onto the tracks as trains pass



Aviva Trains Wales said its trains are too old to have sewage containers

A great-grandchildren has banned her young family from playing in her garden because passing trains keep spraying it with human excrement.

Susan Leigh, 64, has also had hanging washing sprayed with waste and been forced to bleach her garden after it was sprayed on several occasions in Shotton, north Wales.

Trains using the line between Wrexham and Bidson, on the Wirral, are too old to have sewage tanks so when passengers use the toilet the result is dumped onto the tracks and sprays into her garden.



Susan Leigh said she can't let her great-grandchildren play outside her home in Shotton, north Wales

Mrs Leigh said: 'I had a new bedding set and I put it on the line and the baby clothes - when I came out it was covered everywhere.



'Luckily, I had moved the wendy house and swings that I have at the bottom of my garden to mow the lawn - if they were there they would have been covered.





'I had to go out with a scarf around my face and plastic bags around my feet and bin the whole lot.'



Mrs Leigh said waste had sprayed into her back garden several times, but the incident which led her to bleach her garden was the most shocking.



She said: 'It covered my sheets and pillow cases and I had to shut all of the windows. I didn't know where it had come from - I thought it was coming from planes flying overhead. I couldn't believe the mess, it was atrocious.'



Mrs Leigh said her back garden is about 10 feet from the line. 'I'm surprised it is getting dumped there because I am so close to Shotton station,' she said.



'I've got two great-grandchildren of two and five and I can't let them play in the garden because it is very dangerous.



'I couldn't have them walking on that.



Susan, 64 said washing on her line had been covered in the waste from trains travelling along the line from Wrexham to Bidston, on the Wirral

'There's old people around here and it's dangerous for them.'



Train operator Arriva Trains Wales admit their ageing rolling stock doesn't have toilet retention tanks, so the waste is simply dumped.



Local councillor Clive Carver said the practice was 'disgusting' and demanded action to protect residents.



He said: 'They are releasing it straight onto the railway track without any treatment or anything.



Trains run less then 10 feet from Susan Leigh's garden

'At times the train gets up quite a speed and if it is on an embankment it is going to run down the hill and anyone with property or play areas in the vicinity of the railway embankment could be sprayed.



'Train companies must stop doing it.'



A spokesman for Arriva Trains Wales, which runs services on the line, confirmed toilet waste was being released on the track.



The spokesman said: 'The majority of Arriva Trains Wales' rolling stock, except for the Class 175, was built prior to 1997 and as standard were not fitted with toilet retention tanks.



'Network Rail, which is responsible for the railway infrastructure, carries out track cleaning and a contract is in place to clean the track bed of deposits.



'We ask passengers to refrain from using toilets when trains are stationary in any station platform on our network.



'All rolling stock built prior to 1997 will be withdrawn from operation by 2020.



'Those built since 1997 will be fitted with toilet retention tanks and the practice of deposits onto the tracks from trains will be eliminated.

