EVESHAM railway station has come under fire from a pensioners' lobbying group that has slammed it as being rundown.

Fred Kaler, chairman of Evesham and District Pensioners' Association, hit out at the state of the station, claiming visitors were met with "a feeling of coldness" there, as well as having to put up with "dilapidated" toilet facilities.

Views of association members, together with those of Disability Awareness in Schools (DIAS), were submitted to Evesham Town Council's town promotion committee, which met on Monday.

The pensioners' group wants the town council to team up with Worcestershire County Council and Wychavon District Council to press Thames Trains into refurbishing the station.

Correspondence sent to Evesham's promotions committee by the pensioners' association also highlighted difficulties caused to elderly and disabled users of the station by the removal earlier this year of a crossing at track level between the station's two platforms.

Regarding the general condition of the station, the pensioners told Evesham councillors that visitors were met "with a feeling of coldness and a dirty uncaring attitude, dilapidated toilet facilities and waiting rooms, no marked disabled bays, no station staff to speak of and the overall general appearance of the area in which the station stands speaks for itself".

Mr Kaler said: "The deterioration and the dilapidation of the toilets and waiting room doesn't bear thinking about." He added: "There's no feeling of welcome."

He said he hoped the town council would take up the pensioners' concerns with Thames Trains.

Martin Walter, a press officer for Thames Trains, said: "If you look at some of the more outlying stations that are on the route, you get these sort of problems emerging, mainly because of wear and tear.

"Evesham station is a busy station, especially during peak hours."

He added: "We're always willing to try and make improvements, if they're necessary. The question will come down to what needs to be done and how much it will cost.

"We would have to look at it in terms of whether we can afford it." He said that if the train operator was to consider carrying out upgrading of Evesham station, it would consult local authorities to see if they could contribute to the costs of the work.