CHORLEY bus station is a litter-strewn disgrace and should be cleaned up.

The scathing comments came from borough councillor Ken Ball, who said that the state of the station is off-putting to visitors.

Coun Ball -- who claims the bus station looks intimidating -- said: "I came into Chorley by bus on Monday, and I thought 'what an awful place for people to see', when the bus station is such a mess as that.

"All the bins were full, and there were tins and bottles all over the place. The council have spent a lot of money putting litter bins in Chorley to try to keep it clean.

The station's owners can't use the excuse that it's rubbish left after the weekend -- they could at least get a contract with the council to have it cleaned, if they can't keep it clean themselves."

"The bus station never appears to be clean and it's not a very nice impression people get when they are visiting the town."

He added that the mess would discourage people from using public transport.

Mr Steve Walker, operations manager for Stagecoach Ribble, who own the bus station, accepted Coun Ball's criticism, saying: "He is right. Anywhere that looks like that is bad for the image of the town and for the company, but it was a one-off.

"Last week our cleaner was off and we did not get somebody down there every day. But we did get someone there towards the end of the week -- it was cleaned early Friday."

He said the rubbish on that particular day may have been an unusual build up.

He added: "The normal intention is that we clean the bus station every day, except at weekends. But we were short-staffed."