YOUNG couples are using toilets at Bolton Library and Museum for sex, the BEN can reveal today.

Staff say they are fed up having to evict teenagers, some as young as 15, from cubicles at the Le Mans Crescent building.

One couple were even caught on CCTV about to have sex in a corner of the aquarium.

A museum worker in a responsible role, who contacted the BEN, said: "It's not the sort of thing you want in a family place like this and we're getting sick of it.

"Young people come here because it's out of the way and they think they won't get caught.

"If their parents knew what they were up to they would go mad because the lads and girls shouldn't be doing it because of their religious beliefs."

The worker says that two to three couples a month are caught in the act, although those figures are disputed by museum chiefs.

He says the problem peaks on Saturdays and during school and college holidays.

Kathleen Ryan, assistant director of libraries and museums, suggested the frequency of such incidents has been exaggerated.

She said: "We are a public space and these things will happen occasionally and we have to stop them.

"I have spoken to the security staff and they are trying to keep a special eye on it."

She added: "As far as I'm concerned it is not a regular problem."

Another source of frustration among staff is teenagers being rowdy in the library's study area.

The section even had to be closed for three days at the end of last month after tempers flared between those using the study area.

"The difficulty really is the difference between the way older people study which is in silence and the way younger people do which is sitting in groups talking," the assistant director said.

"Our problem is that we only have that one study area and when it's very full it's a problem. There were a few tense times and we decided the best thing was to close it."