DARTMOUTH Town Council staff are getting abusive complaints over charges being made to use the town’s loos.

Employees at the Guildhall are having to handle several calls a day from irate people not happy having to spend 20p to use the toilets in Royal Avenue Gardens.

And disabled visitors are having to walk to the office in Victoria Road to buy a special key to use the special facilities for blue badge holders.

South Hams Council, which owns the public conveniences, has posted a notice outside the toilet block giving the number of Dartmouth Town Council as the only point of inquiry.

‘We are getting several calls a day, some of them abusive,’ said town clerk Tracy Rowe.

‘They’re not even our toilets, though we have sympathy with people using them.

‘The Guildhall is shut at weekends and South Hams Council did not even have the courtesy to ask us first about holding the ‘Radar’ keys for the disabled toilet.’

Dartmouth mayor Cllr Rob Lyon said it was wrong that council staff were having to put up with abuse from people wanting to use the toilets.

‘I don’t like office representatives being spoken to like that,’ he said.

Town council staff have borne the brunt of complaints since a pay-on-entry system was introduced this summer at the ladies, gents and disabled toilets and showers close to the waterfront.

The experimental charging in Dartmouth and Kingsbridge has been introduced as a cost cutting measure by South Hams Council.

Town councillor Francis Hawke said it was wrong complaints were being directed at the Guildhall and not to South Hams Council at Follaton House.

‘The town council agreed to the charging for a trial period but clearly it has not been thought through properly,’ he said. ‘Our staff should not be taking the flak.’

He said during the first week somebody had propped a rubbish bin against the toilet door to keep it open and when that was bolted to the ground a wedge was used to keep the door open.

A South Hams Council spokesman said: ‘The town council information, including the phone number, were provided to signpost people to where they could buy a Radar key.

‘We will amend the notice to remove the town council’s phone number.

‘The changes to the public toilet service in Dartmouth were made in consultation with the town council. South Hams Council then notified the town council with regard to access to the disabled facility by using Radar keys.

‘If the town council does not wish to sell the keys, this has been a misunderstanding and we will arrange for the keys to be collected. We are in contact with the town council in this respect.

‘South Hams Council will work with the TIC to see if an arrangement can be made to supply the Radar keys from the centre.’

The toilets will be free during the Port of Dartmouth Royal Regatta.