Rail workers’ health is being risked by sewage flushed from older coaches a union has said, with one-in-10 coaches in the UK still released toilet waste on to the tracks

Ken Usher, from the Rail Maritime and Transport Union (RMT),

said train workers were at risk of contracting infections and illnesses such as hepatitis and E. coli from being in contact with sewage.

“Working trackside is a dirty job at the best of times – if you are sprayed with effluent it makes it even worse.

“If you can imagine a toilet being flushed at between 40 and 70 mph alongside you, you can get sprayed with just about any liquid and solids… not very nice at all,” he said.

Susan Lea, from Shotton in Flintshire, has a railway line at the bottom of her property, and has had toilet waste from a train blown into her garden.

“[It was] all over my washing, all over the garden, all over the fence, all over the chairs, all over the floor, it was everywhere.

“They wrote to me and told me that they’re allowed to drop this sewerage – it’s not fair on people older, like me, who have to clear it up if it does come in their garden.”

Seb Gordon, from RDG, told the BBC’s Inside Out West Midlands: “The rail safety board, the rail safety organization, has looked into [waste from trains] and has found that it’s a relatively low risk.”