THE announcement that run-down toilets at Brighton Station were in line for the Loveliest Loos Award was greeted with amazement and laughter by people using the ladies and gents yesterday.

The downstairs toilets in the basement of the Victorian station have been constantly criticised for being dirty, smelly and out of date.

News they were being considered for an award after being described as "warm, clean and open all the hours you need them" staggered rail travellers and people working at the station.

Genuine

Railtrack insisted the loos were genuine contenders for the award, which will be judged by members of Rotary International. The winner will be announced on October 24.

Yesterday, the ladies' toilets were in reasonable

condition, but customers complained they smelt and there were not enough washing facilities.

The gents smelt even worse and toilet paper was strewn on the floors of both cubicles. There was graffiti in the cubicles and on the sign leading to the badly-lit, dungeon-like basement.

Martin Winson, 49, from Bath, was surprised to hear they had been nominated.

He said: "It seems very odd. They smell and there is not much evidence someone is regularly looking after them. Are you sure they have been nominated for the Loveliest Loos Award?"

Sarah Steer, 22, who was working on the station flower stall said: "They might win a nomination for the worse station loos. There are gross.

"I rarely use them. They are terrible. Disabled people cannot get down the stairs and they are locked at 8pm."

Jackie Lee, a supervisor in the coffee shop next door to the toilets said: "They are quite clean and there is someone working in there most of the time.

"They are warm because the central heating seems to be on all the time."

Lawrence Driscoll, 46, from Folkestone said: "Why on earth have they been nominated? They are not very clean.

"The toilets at Folkestone Station are a thousand times better."

Sonia Parker, from Brighton, who visited the

toilets with her daughter, Sarah, nine, said: "I think they are old-fashioned, disgusting and they smell. There is no way anyone could seriously nominate them for an award."

A spokesman for Railtrack insisted the station had been nominated and there had not been a mistake.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.