A TRAIN had to stop for extended toilet breaks at stations between Worcester and London - because its own WCs were "out of order".

Around 100 passengers on the 10.33am Thames Trains service to Paddington were warned they would have to leave the train if they wanted to answer the call of nature.

They were advised to tell the guard they were getting off at any of the stations en-route to London to use the facilities.

Passengers then had to report back to the guard before the journey could continue.

According to Worcester MP Mike Foster - who took the train to Westminster - this led to extended stops on a number of occasions.

As a result, the train arrived at Paddington around 20 minutes late, shortly after 1pm on Monday.

"I have caught this particular train a number of times before and one of the two toilets has been broken," said Mr Foster.

"On Monday, they announced both were out of order so anyone using the train would have to get off.

"At one station, the toilets were on the other side of the platform and people on the train had to watch while the passenger got the footbridge to the other side."

Mr Foster said many passengers saw the funny side - even if not many drinks were being sold by staff on board.

But he said Thames Trains, which has lost the franchise to run the line, should not have allowed the situation to arise.

The Labour MP said: "It is a fairly long journey and there can be no excuse for not having a toilet working.

"I hope this is not a sign of what is to come over the next month, when Thames Trains is going to be replaced by Great Western.

"Passengers must not suffer inconvenience during journeys in the meantime."

Mr Foster wrote to the company in May 2003 asking for a better service along the Cotswold Line.

Jonathan Radley, Communications Manager for Thames Trains, assured passengers they had attempted to resolve the problem.

"We did everything we could, and that's always the case," he said.

"As we do not have a depot near Worcester there was no option to replace the service so we either had to run the train without toilets or cancel it."