It’s the ultimate nightmare. A foul stench while you’re stuck on a long train journey home.

But what about if you could see the source of the horrific smell but couldn’t do anything about it?

This is exactly what happened to these poor passengers on board a Great Western Railway (GWR) service from Devon to London on Sunday.

Passengers on the packed train were left gagging after a dog decided to go for a poo in the middle of the aisle.


The offender spotted hiding in the back (Picture: Deadline News)

And to make it worse, train staff did not clean up the mess, they just covered it with tissue, leaving passengers to sit next to it for four hours until the train reached its destination.



At one point, the smell got so bad, passengers were forced to use magazines to weigh down the paper on the floor.

One passenger, Florence Beasley, 23, from London, has now formally complained to GWR after spending £36.15 for her disastrous journey from her home in Newton Abbot, Devon.

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Taking to Facebook, Florence shared photographs of the mayhem on board.

The first photograph shows a large puddle of brown mess in the aisle of the train – with some pieces of tissue strewn across the top.

She wrote: ‘This happened on my train home today. He had an explosive bottom. He wasn’t embarrassed. He admired his work for several hours after that.

”0/10 bowel control. 13/10 would not like to sit near this for four hours again.’

Florence explained that the mess was covered up by a father who had young children with him in the compartment, in a vain attempt to cover the smell.

The poo in all its glory (Picture: Deadline News)

A second picture shows a pile of blue roll tissue placed over the top of the mess – while the poor dog stands in the background staring at it.

On social media, one person wrote: ‘I would literally die if this happened on the commuter rail’, while another joked: ‘Well, s*** happens.’

Florence has since lodged a complaint with GWR due to the incident.

In a letter to the train line she wrote: ‘Within 20 minutes of departing a dog had explosive diarrhoea in the aisle. The train was full and there were no

staff in sight. The owner stayed at the scene to try and warn people not to step in it.

‘After five minutes of me knocking on the staff door as the cafe was closed someone finally answered and didn’t attempt to give anything to clean up or cover with.

‘He said he’d be up in a minute to check the situation. 75 minutes later when we got into Bristol the train staff appeared and said there were no staff to clean it up.

‘It is utterly appalling that we were made to endure these conditions and ignored by train staff.’

Speaking today, Florence said: ‘In all honesty I have grown up on a farm and around dogs so I’m used to it, but being in such a confined space is difficult when that happens and I had to sit next to it for a long period of time because the rest of the train was full.

Florence Beasley, 23, from London, has now formally complained to GWR after spending £36.15 for her disastrous journey from her home in Newton Abbot, Devon (Picture: Deadline News)

‘I saw the father pass the baby back to the mum thinking it needed a nappy change due to the smell. He was between gagging and laughing.’



She added: ‘I mostly felt sorry for the owner. The staff weren’t willing to give anything to help him clean up which he would have done had he had cleaning products.

‘A few bits of blue roll was all they gave us, but having the windows open on the doors made it windy which meant the blue roll was travelling with

poo stuck to it so we got the train magazines to weigh it down.

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‘It was just appalling they didn’t have anything on board for that kind of thing. I’m pretty sure had it been a baby or a person they would have cleaned it or at least given products.”

Florence said she felt for the dog owner who apologised to his fellow passengers.

She said: ‘He was very embarrassed but I chatted to him a little and told him not to worry. It doesn’t make a difference if it’s a dog or a baby.

‘He was travelling solo and the dog seemed perfectly happy before it pooped everywhere. He was accepting pats and wagging his tail.’

A Great Western Railway spokesman said: ‘We are aware of this incident, and have apologised to customers affected.

‘Staff on board moved customers away from the immediate affected area as soon as they were made aware, and did all they could while waiting for specialist equipment to become available.’

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