People have been relieving themselves behind a block of public toilets in a Shropshire town once they are closed at night.

Now Bishop’s Castle town councillors have asked Shropshire Council to install barriers at the back of the public toilets in Station Street to try to stop the problem.

Councillor Keith Pinches said: “The toilets are locked after 10pm and when people come out of the pubs and the toilets are shut they’ll go round the back.

“It isn’t a big problem, but it does happen,” he added.

The town mayor added that there were sometimes similar problems at the town hall when the toilets there were closed.

The auction yard toilets were refurbished several years ago and Councillor Pinches said people had wondered at the time why a gap was left behind the building.

Councillor Jim Gaffney said: “There’s a big fence at the back of the toilet building. If that were joined to the wall at either end that would solve the problem, as the fence is high and would be difficult to climb.”

Councillor Gaffney said the town council had been alerted to the problem by people who cleaned the public toilets at the auction yard.

Kate Adams, Shropshire Council’s street scene manager for south west Shropshire, said: “We will be investigating this concern and will monitor the situation.

“We encourage people to report any problems to us,” she added.

Residents in Bishop’s Castle said they were shocked and revolted by the news.

One woman, who did not wish to be named, said: “I think it’s disgusting. There is absolutely no excuse for this sort of behaviour.”

Another said: “You would really hope that people would behave better in public places.”

But one pub landlord, who did not want to be named, said: “It’s not a problem I’m aware of, we have toilets here and our customers use them.

“I’ve not heard of this being an issue before,” the landlord added.

By Hannah Costigan