An MSP has kicked up a stink after ScotRail announced an increase in toilet charges at Aberdeen Railway Station.

Kevin Stewart has hit out at the rail firm after it pledged to look into scrapping the charges months ago.

A sign at the city station has said the charge has been raised from 30p to 50p from the end of July.

Mr Stewart said: “I cannot fathom the logic behind increasing toilet charges if they plan on scrapping them and I am now concerned that ScotRail is backtracking on its pledge.

“Network Rail correctly acknowledged that scrapping these charges would make their stations more accessible and that it was a case of treating customers with dignity and respect.

“In contrast, ScotRail has pledged to consider following this example but has now chosen to charge its customers even more.”

It comes as the managing director of the firm Alex Hynes visited the north-east yesterday to see the progress being made on the dualling of the track between Aberdeen and Inverness.

Work is progressing between the two stations to increase the capacity of the line and upgrade the service.

The rail boss met engineers from Network Rail working on the multi-million project and viewed the site for the new Kintore station.

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Mr Hynes said: “It was great to see the progress that’s being made to renew and expand the railway in the north-east first hand.

“The investment we are making – the Aberdeen to Inverness improvement programme, Inter7City trains connecting Scotland’s seven cities, the new stations at Forres and Kintore and in the redevelopment of Inverness and Aberdeen stations – means it’s an exciting time for this part of the country.”

Meanwhile, new figures released yesterday show ScotRail has been fined almost £13 million since Abellio took over the franchise.

The statistics published through the Service Quality Incentive Regime (Squire) show that the franchise missed 23 out of 38 key benchmarks.

However, the firm said its service had continued to improve for the sixth consecutive year.