A HORWICH man has criticised the new Bolton Interchange after he found himself locked out of the disabled toilets.

Robert Dean, aged 77, had arrived at the bus station following a coach trip to Eastbourne at around 4.45pm on Sunday, September 24, to find that he was unable to unlock the door.

This was despite the former NHS worker possessing a Radar key, which is supposed to enable him to open more than 9,000 accessible toilets around the country.

Unlike public toilets, which are open all the time, the key allows access to disabled toilets in public areas, pubs and restaurants, which are locked in order to protect them from vandalism and misuse.

Mr Dean, of Fernstone Close, Horwich, said he has had the key for two years, but this was the first time he has ever had a problem using it to access a disabled toilet.

He said: “I have never experienced this before.

“Something needs to be done about it.

“They open a big new bus station like that with all the money they have forked out, and they don’t even have a working disabled toilet.

“I couldn’t use the coach toilets because I can’t get down the stairs so I had gone a few hours since the last stop without being able to use the toilet.”

“I was struggling to be honest and thinking ‘I can finally get off and go to the toilet now’.”

However, when he got off the coach, he found that the toilet was completely locked up resulting in him having to walk over to Quicksilver in Newport Street to pay a visit.

Mr Dean said: “It’s quite a walk if you are disabled and need the toilet.

“A lot of disabled people use the bus station. I’m not even in a wheelchair, so God help anyone who is!”

“They have been open for a few weeks now, so it should have been organised.

“The disabled toilets at Moor Lane were quite sufficient, and even the train station has disabled toilets.”

A sign at the station states that all toilets close at 4.30pm on a Sunday, however, Mr Dean says that he is normally able to access such facilities outside of their public opening times.

He said: “When I was given they key, I was told by the council that I could use it 24 hours a day.

“The station doesn’t close at 4.30pm, so what are people who are catching buses after that supposed to do?”

Howard Hartley, interim head of facilities management at Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), said: “The availability of all toilet facilities, closely mirrors the staffing of our bus stations and interchanges.

“We make every effort to ensure our facilities are as accessible as possible and continually monitor usage and opening times.

“I’d like to apologise for any inconvenience caused on this occasion.”

The £48 million interchange opened at the beginning of September and replaced the old bus station in Moor Lane.

However, its facilities came under fire just days later when a blind bus user complained that there was a lack of support for visually impaired people.